For six weeks, the roar of Jaguar Land Rover’s production lines has fallen silent. Now, the carmaker is preparing to turn the engines back on.
JLR will restart operations this week, beginning with its Wolverhampton engine plant, after a cyber-attack at the end of August forced a complete shutdown of its UK factories in Solihull, Halewood and the West Midlands.
The company said it could take several weeks before all facilities return to full capacity.
The attack, which also disrupted sites in Slovakia, China and India, crippled JLR’s IT systems, halting vehicle production, sales and parts distribution.
Analysts estimate the disruption has cost at least £50 million a week.
The restart offers some relief to suppliers who have endured weeks without income.
The government last week underwrote a £1.5 billion loan guarantee to help firms in JLR’s supply chain, some of which have had to lay off staff.