UK to Provide $2 Billion Loan Guarantee for Jaguar Land Rover

According to foreign media reports, the British government will provide £1.5 billion (approximately $2 billion) in loan guarantees to support Jaguar Land Rover, helping the luxury car manufacturer stabilize its supply chain after production was halted due to a cyber attack.

UK Business Secretary Peter Kyle stated that the cyber attack is "not only an assault on the iconic British brand Jaguar Land Rover, but also an attack on our world-leading automotive industry." He noted that "the loan guarantees provided to Jaguar Land Rover will help support the supply chain and protect technical jobs."

Image source: Jaguar Land Rover

The UK Department for Business stated that the loan would be provided by a commercial bank and guaranteed by the UK Export Finance, with a repayment period of five years. It is expected to provide £1.5 billion in support funding for Jaguar Land Rover's supply chain. Previously, Jaguar Land Rover had suspended production at its factories in the UK, Slovakia, Brazil, and India due to a cyberattack earlier this month, causing wider disruption to the supply chain.

Currently, Jaguar Land Rover has been suspended for nearly a month. The UK government has been exploring ways to support the company and its supply chain, while some of Jaguar Land Rover's smaller suppliers have indicated that their cash reserves can last at most another week.

Jaguar Land Rover is a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors Group and has three factories in the UK, with a total daily production of approximately 1,000 vehicles. The Jaguar Land Rover factories not only support substantial employment around the UK's second-largest city, Birmingham, but also create numerous jobs in the northern city of Liverpool. As the UK's largest car manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover employs 34,000 people in the UK, with an additional 120,000 jobs closely linked to its supply chain.

A recent survey shows that some supply chain companies of Jaguar Land Rover have started to shorten employee working hours or implement layoffs.

Jaguar Land Rover recently stated that some of its systems have resumed online operations, allowing it to process the backlog of supplier invoices, expedite the delivery of parts to dealers, and advance vehicle sales and registration processes. The company plans to restart part of its production operations on October 1, but also noted that a full recovery of production capacity will take time.