Fresh trouble for JLR: UK plant halts production amid supply crunch

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has temporarily paused production at its Solihull manufacturing facility in the United Kingdom, due to a part supply constraint from a supplier.

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“Production has been temporarily paused on certain vehicle lines, and JLR is working closely with the supplier to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and to minimise any impact on clients or operations,” JLR said in a statement.

The Tata group company said the recent disruption is short-term in nature and limited in scope. “At this stage, the Company does not anticipate any material impact on its overall operations or financial performance,” it said, adding that the automaker has been in “constant communication” with the relevant supplier.

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The production pause comes months after a debilitating cyberattack cost Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles’ luxury unit JLR about 50,000 units in terms of production loss. Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles reported a second straight quarter of heavy losses in the third quarter as costs related to the September cyberattack soared to 260 million pounds.

“We have cumulatively taken 260 million pounds of exceptional charges in Q2 and Q3. That number, however, doesn’t include the lost sales volumes on the 50,000 units that we lost in production,” Richard Molyneux, JLR’s Chief Financial Officer, said during a post-earnings conference call. The bottom line number will be considerably in excess of 260 million pounds, Molyneux added.

After the cyberattack, JLR’s net debt swelled. “Our debt has increased. We will certainly not get back to net cash over the next two or three quarters. That is going to be something that is going to take a little bit more time,” the JLR CFO said. JLR’s cash break-even volume threshold has also gone up significantly above 325,000 units, he added.

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has temporarily paused production at its Solihull manufacturing facility in the United Kingdom, due to a part supply constraint from a supplier.

“Production has been temporarily paused on certain vehicle lines, and JLR is working closely with the supplier to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and to minimise any impact on clients or operations,” JLR said in a statement.

The Tata group company said the recent disruption is short-term in nature and limited in scope. “At this stage, the Company does not anticipate any material impact on its overall operations or financial performance,” it said, adding that the automaker has been in “constant communication” with the relevant supplier.

The production pause comes months after a debilitating cyberattack cost Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles’ luxury unit JLR about 50,000 units in terms of production loss. Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles reported a second straight quarter of heavy losses in the third quarter as costs related to the September cyberattack soared to 260 million pounds.

“We have cumulatively taken 260 million pounds of exceptional charges in Q2 and Q3. That number, however, doesn’t include the lost sales volumes on the 50,000 units that we lost in production,” Richard Molyneux, JLR’s Chief Financial Officer, said during a post-earnings conference call. The bottom line number will be considerably in excess of 260 million pounds, Molyneux added.

After the cyberattack, JLR’s net debt swelled. “Our debt has increased. We will certainly not get back to net cash over the next two or three quarters. That is going to be something that is going to take a little bit more time,” the JLR CFO said. JLR’s cash break-even volume threshold has also gone up significantly above 325,000 units, he added.