Cyberattack drives UK car production to 73-year low as tax threat looms

Published connected 24/10/2025 - 14:24 GMT+2 •Updated 14:35

Britain’s car factories person suffered their sharpest downturn successful decades aft a awesome cyberattack paralysed output astatine Jaguar Land Rover, nan country’s biggest manufacturer.

New figures from nan Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show car accumulation fell by 27.1% successful September, pinch conscionable 51,090 vehicles leaving UK mill lines.

The deed was moreover worse erstwhile accounting for each conveyance types, including vans — down 35.9% year-on-year. This came arsenic nan five-week JLR cyber incident forced an unprecedented shutdown and abstracted restructurings trim commercialized conveyance output.

“September’s capacity comes arsenic nary astonishment fixed nan full nonaccomplishment of accumulation astatine Britain’s biggest automotive employer pursuing a cyber incident,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT’s main executive.

“While nan business has improved, nan assemblage remains nether immense pressure.”

The figures people nan lowest September accumulation level since 1952, according to manufacture information and nan SMMT's long-running archive, highlighting nan fragility of a assemblage still recovering from pandemic-era disruptions and proviso concatenation shortages.

There were, however, signs of continued finance successful greenish technologies. Almost half of nan cars built past period were electrified models specified arsenic artillery electric, plug-in hybrid, aliases hybrid.

SMMT added that wide accumulation for nan home marketplace fell by 34.1%, while exports dropped 24.5%. Most shipments were bound for nan EU, nan United States, Turkey, Japan, and South Korea.

Meanwhile, commercialized conveyance accumulation plunged 77.9%, extending a six-month diminution arsenic 1 awesome shaper consolidated operations.

Budget negotiations deepen nan crisis

The slump comes conscionable weeks earlier nan Autumn Budget connected 26 November, erstwhile nan authorities is expected to finalise fiscal measures that could reshape nan automotive workforce.

At nan bosom of manufacture interest is nan planned abolition of Employee Car Ownership Schemes (ECOS), a taxation alteration that would reclassify vehicles provided nether these schemes arsenic institution cars, making them taxable to higher taxation rates.

The ECOS strategy lets car mill workers bargain nan cars they build without paying nan afloat institution car taxation — benignant of a unit discount done payroll.

If nan authorities ends that scheme, those workers would abruptly look large caller taxes connected their ain cars. That could trim request for vehicles, prompting anger among carmakers.

According to SMMT analysis, ending ECOS could impact 60,000 automotive workers, trim caller car income by 80,000 units a year, and costs nan Treasury astir £500 cardinal aliases €573.36mn successful mislaid taxation receipts.

The group estimates nan wider deed to nan UK’s business guidelines astatine much than £1 cardinal (€1.15bn), threatening astir 5,000 manufacturing jobs.

Hawes said scrapping ECOS instantly puts nan Industrial Strategy’s ambitions successful doubt, referring to a authorities scheme unveiled successful June to boost conveyance output to 1.3 cardinal units per year.

Even so, nan UK authorities claims that "the measurement is not expected to person immoderate important macroeconomic impacts".

"Private usage of a institution car is simply a valuable benefit, and it is correct nan due taxation is paid connected it," said a HMRC statement.

"This measurement will guarantee fairness pinch different taxpayers, trim distortions successful nan taxation system, and it reinforces nan emissions-based institution car taxation authorities which incentivises nan take-up of zero emanation vehicles."