Jaguar Land Rover Restarts Production; Provides Lifeline to Critical Suppliers

WEBVTT

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:0

00:00.239 --> 00:05.519

Jaguar Land Rover has restarted manufacturing

and is working with suppliers to keep them in

00:05.519 --> 00:11.149

business as the UK automaker works to recover

from a cyber attack that crippled production

00:11.149 --> 00:12.189

for more than a month.

00:12.399 --> 00:16.879

The company today announced that its phased

manufacturing restart will begin tomorrow as a

00:16.879 --> 00:20.959

pair of plants in the West Midlands, the

Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Center,

00:21.040 --> 00:25.642

where JLR builds engines.

And the Battery Assembly Center come back

00:25.642 --> 00:28.132

online.

Employees will also return to work at the

00:28.132 --> 00:31.773

company's stamping operations in Castle

Bromwich, Halewood,

00:31.812 --> 00:35.733

and Solihull, UK.

The company is also recalling workers at its

00:35.733 --> 00:40.143

body shop and paint shop in Solihull, as well

as its logistics operations center,

00:40.252 --> 00:43.463

which distributes parts to global manufacturing

sites.

00:43.573 --> 00:46.373

The company hopes to next restart vehicle

manufacturing in

00:46.515 --> 00:51.875

Nitra, Slovakia, where the company makes the

Land Rover Discovery and Land Rover Defender.

00:52.026 --> 00:57.655

JLR also plans to reopen the Range Rover and

Range Rover Sport lines in Solihull this week.

00:57.986 --> 01:01.655

JLR's Halewood plant in Merseyside is next in

line.

01:01.826 --> 01:04.005

The attack has been costly for JLR.

01:04.265 --> 01:09.625

Some estimates suggest the company could be

losing nearly $7 million in profits every day.

01:10.019 --> 01:14.309

The cyber incident has also pushed some

suppliers to near collapse.

01:14.559 --> 01:20.309

However, JLR has also announced a new financing

scheme to pay some suppliers upfront.

01:20.480 --> 01:25.279

While the automaker has been making manual

payments to settle outstanding invoices,

01:25.400 --> 01:29.190

its automated supplier payment systems are

expected to come back online this week.

01:29.440 --> 01:34.110

JLR's temporary plan will pay suppliers faster

than its standard payment terms,

01:34.180 --> 01:35.980

improving near-term cash flow.

01:36.199 --> 01:41.150

The short-term financing scheme means qualified

suppliers will receive a majority prepayment

01:41.150 --> 01:46.339

shortly after the point of order and a final

true payment upon invoice receipt.

01:46.510 --> 01:52.709

JLR's typical terms are 60 days post-invoice,

so this deal ideally accelerates supplier

01:52.709 --> 01:56.500

payments by as much as 120 days, according to

the company.

01:56.709 --> 02:01.709

JLR will also reimburse the financing costs for

suppliers who opt into the payment scheme

02:01.709 --> 02:03.099

during the restart phase.

02:03.349 --> 02:06.989

The company will begin with suppliers critical

to the production restart and event

02:07.379 --> 02:09.649

and expand to non-production suppliers.

02:09.899 --> 02:14.500

After the restart announcement, JLR, a

subsidiary of Tata Motors Limited,

02:14.740 --> 02:21.220

published its Q2 fiscal year 2026 sales figures.

The company reported that Q2 wholesales are

02:21.220 --> 02:27.490

down 24.2% from the same period last year, and

retail figures are down

02:27.490 --> 02:31.940

17.1%.

JLR said volumes have been impacted since the

02:31.940 --> 02:37.550

start of September when the cyber incident shut

down production and hit wholesales particularly

02:37.550 --> 02:40.460

hard.

The planned wind down of legacy Jaguar models

02:40.460 --> 02:44.539

is also impacting the company's bottom line, as

well as US tariffs,

02:44.750 --> 02:47.619

which continued to hurt sales throughout the

quarter.

02:47.949 --> 02:50.470

I'm David Manti.

This is Manufacturing Now.