Jaguar Land Rover halts production at its biggest car factory for a fortnight due to parts supply issue as wider UK vehicle outputs hit the rocks

Updated: 06:14 EDT, 27 March 2026

e-mail

British car maker Jaguar Land Rover has been forced to temporary halt production at its biggest UK vehicle plant due to a shortage of parts after a major supplier in Norway suffered a factory fire.

The pause to assembly lines is expected to go on for around two weeks in a fresh blow to a company still reeling from the £260million losses incurred from its cyber attack last year that triggered a five-month global production shutdown.

On Thursday, the manufacturer told suppliers it will be pausing production of Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models at the Solihull plant in the West Midlands until April 8. This is inclusive of a planned five-day shutdown for the Easter bank holiday weekend.

In a statement to Daily Mail and This is Money, a JLR spokesperson said: Due to a parts supply challenge with a supplier, we are temporarily pausing production on certain vehicles lines at our Solihull production facility.

'We are working closely with that supplier to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and minimise any impact on our clients or our operations.'

The pause to outputs at Britain's second biggest car maker comes amidst disappointing UK vehicle production numbers as weak global demand sparked a 17 per cent decline in outputs in February, new industry figures show.

Jaguar Land Rover will temporary pause production at its biggest UK vehicle plant in Solihull due to a shortage of parts after a major supplier in Norway suffered a factory fire

JLR's temporary shutdown in Solihull will be an additional financial hit on the car maker's huge supply chain, which has already felt the strain of last year's cyber attack.

The breach of its IT systems at the end of August directly cost the group £260million in lost sales and expenses.

The impact saw JLR's total UK production fall by almost 22 per cent last year, with 201,283 vehicles coming off assembly lines in 2025. Yet this was still the second highest output at manufacturer level, behind only Nissan Sunderland's 273,322 units.

But with its wider supply chain incorporating 5,000 businesses and around 200,000 workers - many of them based in the UK - the total cost of the JLR hack on on the economy has been estimated to be £1.9billion, making it the most damaging cyber event in UK history, according to researchers at the Cyber Monitoring Centre.

This week's latest dilemma will be another challenge for JLR's new boss PB Balaji, who has been parachuted into the role from the car maker's parent company, India's Tata Motors.

Having taken over the reins from departing CEO Adrian Mardell in December, Balaji's tenure has already seen huge controversy surrounding the future of design boss Gerry McGovern, who - according to reports - left the business with immediate effect within days of the new chief executive taking a seat at his new desk.

McGovern, the brand's divisive former chief creative officer - who was largely responsible for Jaguar's contentious rebranding in 2024 - has been a 21-year veteran at the company and was a member of the board.

His departure was made official in a statement shared with employees last week in which he announced he will setup his own creative consultancy - though hasn't confirmed if this will be in the automotive or branding sphere.

And Balaji's job has been made all the more difficult while also trying to navigate the relaunch of a new, all-electric, Jaguar and debut its first electric Range Rover amidst decelerating demand for EVs.

The business too has taken a hit from President Trump's higher tariffs imposed on vehicle imports, with the US being JLR's largest overseas market.

The pause to assembly lines is expected to go on for around two weeks in a fresh blow to a company still reeling from the £260m losses incurred from its cyber attack last year

JLR has been surrounded by contention in the last two years. As well as the cyber breach, it has endured criticism for its rebranding of Jaguar and in recent months seen a swirl of controversy around the departure of creative director, Gerry McGovern (pictured)

But it isn't just Jaguar Land Rover feeling the pinch in the automotive sector.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed on Friday that UK vehicle production fell by 17.2 per cent last month, with 68,061 units leaving factories in February.

Car manufacturing dipped by almost 11 per cent while outputs of vans and other commercial vehicles plummeted by almost three quarters compared to February 2025.

It blamed weak global demand, with exports - which count for four of five cars made in Britain - shrinking by almost 15 per cent.

This tallied with declining appetite at home, with outputs of UK-spec cars and vans plunging by more than a quarter.

UK car production declined by almost 11% last month due to plummeting global demand. The SMMT said the February figures are 'extremely worrying' given they pre-date the Iran War

Are car makers REALLY selling enough EVs to meet Labour's green targets?

The trade body said the figures are 'extremely worrying', especially given the downturn in outputs pre-dating the crisis in the Middle East, which is likely to put a further strange of new car demand as households tighten their purse strings.

The UK sector is also facing additional pressure from ‘Made in the EU’ proposals set out in the European Commission’s Industrial Accelerator Act.

As drafted, they would discriminate against UK-made vehicles and components – damaging a trading relationship worth almost £70billion annually and potentially breaching the EU-UK Trade Cooperation Agreement – the Brexit deal – which all parties worked so hard to secure in 2020.

Speaking on Friday, Mike Hawes, the SMMT's chief exec, said: 'Another decline for UK vehicle production and exports is extremely worrying, given these figures pre-date the crisis in the Middle East.

'While the sector has made efforts to build resilience into its logistics and supply chains post Covid, the conflict adds further strain.

'Now more than ever we must focus on our industrial competitiveness by driving down energy costs, backing our suppliers, supporting our domestic market and securing free and fair trade with Europe.'

UK vehicle production is down year-on-year by 15 per cent. This is set against 2025 outputs, which were the lowest seen on record for 73 years.

VIDEO