Jaguar Land Rover has said it will resume some production in the coming days after a cyber-attack forced the carmaker to suspend operations.
Work at its three UK facilities in the West Midlands and Merseyside were halted on 1 September after a cyber-attack the night before.
Previously, the company had said it did not expect production to resume at its facilities until 1 October at the earliest.
A JLR spokesperson said: “Today we are informing colleagues, retailers and suppliers that some sections of our manufacturing operations will resume in the coming days.”
The spokesperson said JLR was continuing work on its recovery following the shutdown.
“We continue to work around the clock alongside cybersecurity specialists, the UK Government’s NCSC and law enforcement to ensure our restart is done in a safe and secure manner,” they said.
The restart is expected to take place in a phased manner. Industry sources say restarting the Wolverhampton engine plant is likely to take priority.
However, they expect it to still be several weeks before the production lines are running at full capacity. Suppliers have welcomed the news.
About 30,000 people are directly employed at the company’s UK plants in Solihull, Wolverhampton and Halewood, and about 100,000 work for firms in the supply chain.
Some of these firms supply parts exclusively to JLR, while others sell components to other carmakers as well.
JLR’s supply chain has been under huge financial pressure as a result of the stoppage, with many smaller companies in particular thought to be at risk of bankruptcy.
One supplier told the BBC the news that the restart was welcome and would provide some relief for businesses that rely on orders from JLR, but insisted that the losses already caused meant that financial assistance was still badly needed.
Over the weekend the government announced it would provide loan guarantees worth £1.5bn for JLR, with the stipulation that the supply chain would be supported.
However, the supplier questioned how the money will be distributed – and warned that vulnerable firms could not afford to take on more debt.
The JLR spokesperson said the company thanked everyone connected to the manufacturer “for their continued patience, understanding and support.”
The spokesperson continued: “We know there is much more to do but the foundational work of our recovery is firmly underway, and we will continue to provide updates as we progress.”
JLR is one of several UK companies that have been hit in a spate of cyber-attacks this year.
Luxury department store Harrods was contacted by hackers this week after data related to 430,000 customer records was stolen in an IT breach.
That breach was separate to attempts to hack into separate Harrods systems earlier this year.
The group of Hackers that claimed responsibility for that attempt has also claimed responsibility for hacks on retailers M&S and Co-op, which have cost the companies hundreds of millions of pounds in lost sales.
