UK Weighs Support for JLR Suppliers After Cyberattack

The UK government is in talks to support suppliers hit by a cyberattack that began at the end of August and has shut Jaguar Land Rover production, with Business Secretary Peter Kyle considering measures such as buying components on JLR’s behalf and backing loans to prevent a wider supply‑chain collapse. The outage has idled JLR plants worldwide, paused UK production until at least Oct. 1, is costing the company about £50m a week and has pushed estimated lost revenue toward £1.7–2bn, affecting roughly 33,000 JLR employees and threatening hundreds of thousands of supply‑chain jobs. Ministers have met JLR executives, unions and MPs and say any assistance would be temporary and focused on preserving jobs in the Midlands automotive cluster, though unions warn some suppliers may still fail and many workers have been sent home or put on short‑time. Officials acknowledge practical obstacles — which parts to buy, where to store them and what volumes to order — and say they prefer to work with suppliers rather than impose solutions, but some suppliers are sceptical of loan options. JLR says parts of its online systems are being restored and it is targeting a phased manufacturing restart, but a full recovery timeline remains uncertain.