The firm, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, says it took immediate action to lessen the effect of the hack and is working quickly to restart operations. JLR's retail business has also been badly hit but there is no evidence any customer data had been stolen, it said. The attack began last Sunday and comes at a significant time for UK car sales, as the latest batch of new registration plates became available on Monday 1 September.

It's traditionally a popular time for consumers to take delivery of a new vehicle. The BBC understands that the attack was detected while in progress, and the company shut down its IT systems in an effort to minimise the damage being done. Workers at the company's Halewood plant in Merseyside were told by email early on Monday morning not to come into work, with others sent home - as first reported by the Liverpool Echo.

The BBC understands the attack has also hit the firm's other main UK manufacturing plant at Solihull, with staff there also sent home. It is not yet known who is responsible for the attack, but it comes in the wake of crippling attacks on prominent UK retail businesses including the Co-op and Marks and Spencer. In both cases the hackers sought to extort money.

In 2023, as part of an effort to "accelerate digital transformation across its business", JLR signed a 5 year, £800 million ($1070 million) deal with corporate stablemate Tata Consultancy Services to provide cybersecurity and a range of other IT services. In a statement the car maker wrote: "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." (BBC/Getty Images)