- Jaguar Land Rover confirmed a cyberattack in a stock exchange filing in India.
- Production employees at the Halewood plant were instructed not to report to work.
- JLR said it is working quickly to restart global applications in controlled fashion.
It’s not just your smartphone or home computer that’s vulnerable to cyberattacks, as entire companies can be brought to their knees by them. This week, Jaguar Land Rover was hit by one of these cyberattacks, forcing it to shut down its systems and causing significant disruptions to its retail and production activities.
Read: JLR Is Now Using The AI Damage Scanners That Hertz Customers Hate
News of the incident surfaced in a stock exchange filing made in Mumbai, India, on Monday evening, confirming that the automaker’s operations had been hit hard.
Systems on Pause
Jaguar Land Rover did not provide all that many details about the attack and what exactly it involved. However, the BBC reported that production employees at its plant in Halewood, England, were instructed to stay at home and not report for work while the company dealt with the issue.
In its statement, JLR explained, “We took immediate action to mitigate its impact by proactively shutting down our systems. We are now working at pace to restart our global applications in a controlled manner.” The automaker also emphasized that there is currently no evidence customer data was stolen, though retail and manufacturing activity has been heavily disrupted.
A Difficult Year Gets Harder
The timing of the attack couldn’t have been much worse for the British brand. This year has already proven to be a difficult one for it, particularly since Jaguar isn’t currently manufacturing any vehicles and was widely criticized in late 2024 for its controversial new woke advertising campaign. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House compounded issues for the brand.
Shortly after the President announced a 25 percent tariff on all imported cars and parts on April 2, Jaguar Land Rover confirmed it would pause all shipments of new cars to the United States for the month. JLR said this would give it the time to develop mid- and longer-term plans.
North America remains vital for the automaker, representing around a quarter of the 430,000 vehicles JLR sold between March 2023 and March 2024. Any sustained disruption to supply chains or production could place further strain on a company already navigating a turbulent year.
