By Danielle Collis
Copyright news
UK Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the loan, provided by a commercial bank, would safeguard jobs.
“This is a big moment: this will offer an enormous resource for JLR and the supply chain to get through the immediate challenges that they face,” he said.
“We are offering a £1.5bn credit facility to JLR with the explicit intention that is to support the supply chain into JLR as well.”
Hackers struck on August 31, forcing JLR to shut down its IT systems and halt production.
A group calling itself Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters has claimed responsibility, with links to Scattered Spider, Lapsus$ and ShinyHunters.
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Screenshots shared on social media suggest the group had access to internal JLR systems.
The company initially said there was “no evidence” of stolen data, but later admitted “we now believe that some data has been affected and we are informing the relevant regulators.”
Production has been shut down since September 1 and is not expected to restart until October.
JLR employs 30,000 people in the UK, with another 100,000 in its supply chain.
Many smaller suppliers warned they were just days away from collapse as cash dried up.
No cars have rolled off the production line in September and JLR has stopped placing orders with its 700 suppliers.
The company, owned by India’s Tata Motors, usually builds around 1,000 vehicles a day across its three plants in Solihull, Wolverhampton and Halewood.
The suspension is estimated to be costing JLR at least £50m ($95m AUD) a week.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the move would protect thousands of jobs and stabilise the industry.
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“Today we are protecting thousands of those jobs with up to $2.85bn in additional private finance, helping them support their supply chain and protect a vital part of the British car industry,” Ms Reeves said.
It is the first time the UK government has stepped in to support a business directly because of a cyber-attack.
A JLR spokesperson said the company had started a phased restart of its systems, with some key functions now operational.
“We have significantly increased IT processing capacity for invoicing. We are now working to clear the backlog of payments to our suppliers as quickly as we can,” the spokesperson said.
“Our Global Parts Logistics Centre, which supplies the parts distribution centres for our retailer partners in the UK and around the world, is now returning to full operations. This will enable our retail partners to continue to service our clients’ vehicles and keep our customers mobile.
“The financial system we use to process the wholesale of vehicles has been brought back online and we are able to sell and register vehicles for our clients faster, delivering important cash flow. These are important initial steps as our dedicated teams work around the clock alongside cybersecurity specialists, the UK Government’s NCSC and law enforcement to ensure we restart in a safe and secure manner.
“Our focus remains on supporting our customers, suppliers, colleagues and our retailers. We fully recognise this is a difficult time for all connected with JLR and we thank everyone for their continued support and patience.”
