Jaguar Land Rover has been forced to shut down production at its plants after being targeted in a cyber attack.

In a statement, Jaguar Land Rover confirmed that it had been impacted by a cyber attack, prompting immediate action to "mitigate its impact".

Once it was aware of the incident, Jaguar Land Rover said it had shut down its systems to prevent any further issues from taking place.

The British brand's retail and production activities have been "severely disrupted" in the hours following the incident.

Jaguar Land Rover has been forced to shut down its systems following a cyber attack

The statement continued: "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."

According to the Liverpool Echo, workers at the brand's Halewood Plant have been told to stay at home following the cyber attack.

In an email, production staff were told to avoid going to work at 4.30am, while another group were reportedly sent home.

Jaguar Land Rover said it was working to restore its systems as quickly as possible

The Echo reported that an email sent to staff said: "The leadership team has agreed that production associates will be stood down and will have hours banked in line with the corridor agreement."

It also confirmed that workers with "specific skills" would still be required to attend work for "essential activities".

Reports surfaced that Jaguar Land Rover suffered issues yesterday (Monday, September 1), which left dealers unable to register new cars.

Autocar reported that dealers could not register any new vehicles on "new plate day". September 1 saw the introduction of the new "75" plate, with this typically being one of the most popular times of the year to buy a new car.

It comes in the wake of Adrian Mardell stepping down as chief executive of the global brand just a few years after taking the helm.

Mr Mardell was credited with turning JLR's fortunes around after heavy losses in the aftermath of the pandemic, before delivering 10 consecutive profitable quarters.

At the end of July, JLR said Mr Mardell had expressed his desire to retire from the brand, with PB Balaji being named as his successor a few days later.

The outgoing CEO said it had been a "great privilege" to lead the brand in recent years, having been with the company for around 35 years.

Staff at JLR's Halewood Plant have been told to go home