Carmaker JLR has revealed a sharp drop in sales over recent months as it prepares to restart production across its º£½ÇÊÓƵ sites tomorrow after weeks of disruption following a cyber attack.
The British carmaker said it had been a "challenging quarter" as it also grappled with the impact of higher US tariffs.
It revealed sales fell by 17.1 per cent to 85,495 units between July and September, compared with the same period a year ago, with º£½ÇÊÓƵ sales dropping by nearly a third.
The volume of wholesales tumbled by 24.2 per cent year on year to 66,165 units.
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Coventry-based JLR said this partly reflected a production freeze since the start of September after being targeted by hackers which has caused significant disruption to its global operations.
But it is set to restart manufacturing operations tomorrow at several sites including Wolverhampton, Solihull and Halewood in Merseyside.
Furthermore, the carmaker unveiled plans for a new financing scheme for struggling suppliers to fast-track payments, with cash up-front for qualifying firms suffering from the fallout of the hack.
Chief executive Adrian Mardell said: "It has been a challenging quarter for JLR.
"In the first two months, our performance was robust and in line with our expectations, against the backdrop of the planned wind down of legacy Jaguar models and the impact of incremental US tariffs.
"From the start of September, we have been responding to a cyber incident which shut down our production. We know there is much more to do but our recovery is firmly under way."
The latest sales performance comes after a tougher period for the business which has been affected by US President Donald Trump increasing tariffs on automotive imports.
Sales were sliding earlier on in the year partly as a result of it halting new shipments to the US in April, prior to a trade agreement being struck.
º£½ÇÊÓƵ sales have also been affected by JLR stopping selling older Jaguar models in the country as it shifts production to new electric models.
JLR has the largest supply chain in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ automotive sector which employs around 120,000 people and is largely made up of small- and medium-sized businesses.
The Government recently announced it would underwrite a £1.5 billion loan guarantee to JLR to give suppliers some certainty over payments, helping bolster the manufacturer's cash reserves but calls increased for more to be done.
