New car production in the UK plummeted by 24% last month as JLR, the country's biggest automotive employer, grappled with the impact of a crippling cyber attack that brought all of its operations to a halt.
JLR was hit by the cyber attack on 31 August, stopped building cars the following day and did not restart production until the following month – and it wasn't until mid-October that all production lines were up and running again.
That meant the company's Range Rover factory in Solihull, and the Halewood plant where it builds the Evoque and Discovery Sport, were operating at far below usual capacity during the month.
The latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) outline the impact of the incident: the UK produced just 59,010 cars in October, down 18,474 units on the same month last year.
JLR does not publicise its monthly production figures for each factory, but recorded combined global sales of around 53,000 units for its UK-built models in the three months leading up to the attack.
Autocar has approached JLR for more information on its progress as it returns to full-volume production.
So far this year, the UK has produced 602,109 cars, down from just over 670k at this point last year.
SMMT boss Mike Hawes said it was "another difficult month for UK vehicle production as the impact of the earlier cyber attack continued to be felt".
However, he forecasted that "growth is on the horizon", highlighting the government's industrial strategy and new £1.5 billion automotive innovation fund as signs that the sector is "a pillar of national strategic importance".
But the latest production figures come shortly after it was confirmed that plug-in hybrids and battery-EVs will attract a new pay-per-mile tax in the UK from 2028 – a policy that the SMMT says is at odds with the need to transition buyers into EVs, and could threaten manufacturing output.
"Investment competitiveness also depends on a healthy domestic market, however, notably for EVs, and introducing a new electric vehicle excise duty is the wrong measure at the wrong time," said Hawes.
"This new tax will undermine demand, so government must work with industry to reduce the cost of compliance and protect the UK’s investment appeal."
The SMMT said the imposition of the pay-per-mile tax "would undermine" other measures it has taken to boost EV uptake, including raising the threshold of the expensive car supplement (ECS) and injecting another £1.3bn into the Electric Car Grant scheme – "reducing demand for the very vehicles manufacturers are compelled to sell".
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