Redazione RHC : 10 September 2025 14:01
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), one of Britain’s largest car manufacturers, has been hit by a cyber attack that has paralyzed its IT systems.Production at plants in the UK and abroad has been halted since late August, leaving dealers unable to register new cars and customers unable to receive their payments on time. The downtime costs the company around £5 million in lost profits per day.
As reported by the BBC, former Land Rover chief engineer Charles Tennant recalled that under normal conditions the company earns around £75 million per day. According to him, a week of downtime translates into losses of tens of millions of pounds. The company does not disclose official figures, limiting itself to apologizing to customers, suppliers, and partners.
The attack comes at an inopportune time for Jaguar Land Rover. September marks the start of registrations in the UK for new cars, one of the peak sales periods.
As Charles Tennant observed, the hackers “picked the worst possible moment,” when the company was counting on revenue growth. As a result, the company is losing not only production volumes but also the opportunity to capitalize on seasonal demand.
A group of young hackers who previously targeted the British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) have publicly claimed their involvement in the JLR hack. In the case of M&S, the retailer estimated the damage at around £300 million.
The incident has not only affected Jaguar Land Rover. One parts supplier has already called the closure “worrying.”
Supply chains are disrupted, and in the global automotive industry, even a few weeks of downtime can lead to prolonged disruptions. For customers, the risk is clear: they don’t receive the cars they paid for on time, which undermines trust in the brand.
Jaguar Land Rover, owned by the Indian group Tata Motors, remains the UK’s largest car manufacturer. In recent years, the company has faced growing competition in the electric vehicle market and rising costs.
The cyber attack, which coincided with the company’s restructuring, exacerbated the crisis: digital control and protection systems exposed vulnerabilities, turning cyber risks into a factor of strategic instability for the entire automotive industry.
This attack should be a warning to everyone: cybersecurity is not a cost to be postponed, but a strategic investment. If you don’t pay it sooner, you’ll pay it later—and the damage can be enormous, both financially and to your reputation. In today’s hyperconnected world, digital resilience is what distinguishes those who can recover quickly from those who risk never recovering.
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