Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has reported a dramatic slump in sales for the final quarter of last year, with wholesale volumes plunging by 43.3% after a devastating cyber-attack forced a global production shutdown and US tariffs impacted exports.
Production Paralysed by Cyber-Attack
The luxury carmaker, Britain's largest, was hit by a severe cyber-attack in late August. The incident forced JLR to suspend manufacturing at its factories located in the UK, Slovakia, Brazil, and India throughout the entire month of September. Production did not return to normal levels until mid-November, causing significant disruption to the company's global supply chain.
This operational crisis pushed JLR into a quarterly loss of almost £500 million. The company confirmed that it took considerable time to distribute vehicles worldwide after production eventually resumed, directly contributing to the sharp sales decline.
Quarterly Figures Reveal Steep Declines
The financial impact of the hack and other headwinds was laid bare in the quarterly results. Wholesale volumes, which represent sales to dealerships, fell to just 59,200 vehicles in the three months to December. Retail sales to customers also dropped by 25.1% to 79,600 cars.
Retail sales fell across all of JLR's major markets between October and December. The most severe drop was in North America, down 37.7%, followed by Europe (down 26.9%). Sales in the UK declined by 13.3%, while China saw an 18.4% reduction.
The company also cited "incremental US tariffs impacting JLR’s US exports" and the planned phase-out of older Jaguar models ahead of the new Type 00 launch as additional factors behind the poor performance.
Leadership Change and Market Reaction
The sales slump coincided with a period of leadership transition. Gerry McGovern, the brand's design chief, left the business just four months after the appointment of new CEO PB Balaji in August. Balaji was previously the finance chief at Tata Motors, JLR's Indian parent company.
The announcement hit investor confidence, with shares in Tata Motors falling by as much as 4% before recovering slightly to trade 2% lower. For the financial year to date, JLR's retail volumes are down 19.1% to 259,400 units.
Despite the broader challenges, the company's flagship models – the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, and Defender – proved resilient. They accounted for nearly three-quarters of all sales, an increase from 70.3% a year earlier.
The news from JLR emerged as separate industry data showed UK new car registrations surpassed 2 million in 2025 for the first time since 2019, driven in part by a boom in sales of Chinese-branded vehicles.
