Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has reportedly told staff to stay at home and not to come into work while dealers can't register new cars as a result of a "cyber incident" affecting the brand. The cyber issue is believed to have started yesterday, despite it being one of the busiest times for vehicle sales across the whole year.
According to the Liverpool ECHO, production staff received an email at 4.30am telling them not to come in to work. The issue hit the British carmaker on the launch of the new ‘75 number plates in a blow to customers. The issue is believed to be related to the system the car maker uses to register new vehicles, meaning buyers are unable to collect their models and get behind the wheel. JLR has confirmed the group took "immediate action" and are "now working at pace" to resolve the issue.
In some positive news, the brand has confirmed customer data appears safe but did stress the issue was leading to retail "disruption".
In a statement to the Daily Express, a spokesperson said: "JLR has been impacted by a cyber incident. We took immediate action to mitigate its impact by proactively shutting down our systems. We are now working at pace to restart our global applications in a controlled manner.
"At this stage there is no evidence any customer data has been stolen but our retail and production activities have been severely disrupted."
Autocar has claimed that a JLR dealer was unable to register any vehicles yesterday as a result of the problem. It is understood the dealer explained there had been no word from JLR HQ about when dealers could expect the problem to be resolved.
Tata Motors, the owners of the JLR brand, appeared to confirm the issues as they cited an "IT security incidence". The DVLA releases new number plates twice a year, with designs being introduced in March and September.
It makes September one of the busiest months for dealers with new '75 plates coming into effect from the start of the month.
As well as selling lots of new models with the latest '75 phrases, dealers often reduce the previous stock.
This creates ideal conditions for trade with dealers often enjoying sales spikes in March and September.