November 29, 2025 – The UK’s new car production took a significant hit last month, plummeting by 24% compared to the same period the previous year. The root cause of this sharp decline was a devastating cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the country’s largest car manufacturer, which brought all its operations to a complete standstill.
On August 31, JLR fell victim to a cyberattack. The very next day, it was forced to halt the production of complete vehicles, and it wasn’t until the following month that a gradual resumption of production began. However, it took until mid – October for all of its production lines to return to full – scale normal operation.
This cyberattack had a far – reaching impact on JLR’s production facilities. Its Range Rover factory in Solihull, as well as the Halewood plant, which is responsible for manufacturing the Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport models, operated at far below normal capacity throughout the entire month.
Data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) clearly illustrated the severity of the situation. In October, the UK produced a mere 59,010 new cars, a decrease of 18,474 vehicles compared to the same month last year, representing a 24% drop.
Although JLR did not make public the detailed monthly production figures for each of its factories, it did reveal that in the three months prior to the cyberattack, the global sales of its models produced in the UK totaled approximately 53,000 units.
By the end of October this year, the cumulative car production in the UK stood at 602,109 vehicles, which was lower than the over 670,000 vehicles produced during the same period last year.
Mike Hawes, the Chief Executive of SMMT, commented, “The UK’s car production endured another tough month, mainly due to the lingering effects of the previous cyberattack.” Nevertheless, he also pointed out that “there are signs of growth on the horizon.” He emphasized that the government’s newly – issued industrial strategy and the establishment of a £1.5 billion automotive industry innovation fund both indicate that the automotive sector remains a “national strategic pillar industry.”
However, at the time when the latest production data was released, the UK government had just confirmed that a new tax system based on mileage would be implemented for plug – in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) starting from 2028. SMMT pointed out that this move goes against the policy goal of encouraging consumers to switch to electric vehicles and could potentially jeopardize the domestic manufacturing capacity.
According to SMMT statistics, among the 59,010 cars produced in the UK last month, nearly half (46.2%) were electrified models (including BEVs, PHEVs, and hybrid electric vehicles HEVs). But since the association did not release detailed breakdown data, the specific proportion of each type of vehicle remains unclear.
