LONDON (Reuters) -Jaguar Land Rover’s production shutdown after a cyberattack is hitting businesses in Britain’s West Midlands region, a survey showed on Friday, with firms already making redundancies or cutting staff hours in response.
The government is considering financial support for the luxury carmaker, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, after the cyberattack halted production at the start of this month. It has extended the shutdown until October.
JLR has three factories that together produce about 1,000 cars per day, and sustain many jobs in the area around Birmingham, Britain’s second biggest city. Some small suppliers have told a parliamentary committee that they had one week left at most before they ran out of cash.
A survey of 84 businesses representing nearly 30,000 employees, conducted by the Black Country, Greater Birmingham and Coventry and Warwickshire Chambers of Commerce, found over three-quarters had been negatively impacted by the cyberattack.
It found 45% had reported significant financial impacts including loss of revenue or higher costs, 35% had asked staff to work reduced hours and 14% were making redundancies.
The survey said 79% of participating firms were in JLR’s supply chain, and while 18% were not but still experienced knock-on effects.
“The Black Country’s automotive supply chain employs 13,000 people so the ripple effects of this cyber-attack are being felt right across our business community,” said Sarah Moorhouse, chief executive of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce.
“This isn’t just about JLR – it’s about the suppliers, manufacturers and service providers that make the West Midlands the powerhouse of UK automotive production.”
Moorhouse said that over half of the businesses wanted to see a financial support package.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Kate Holton, editing by Paul Sandle)
