Jaguar Land Rover ‘severely disrupted’ by cyberattack

A security guard stands near the gate of the Jaguar Land Rover assembly plant in Pune, India, Friday, May 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Jaguar Land Rover said Tuesday its retail and production activities have been hit by a cyber attack, in the latest blow to the tariffs-hit automaker.

British-based JLR, owned by India’s Tata Motors, said it took immediate action to shut down its systems to curb the impact of the incident.

“At this stage there is no evidence any customer data has been stolen but our retail and production activities have been severely disrupted,” it said in a statement.

The company added that it is “working at pace” to restart its global operations.

Cyber gangs have increasingly targeted luxury brands and retailers.

British retailer Marks and Spencer recently suffered a cyberattack that crippled its online services for weeks and cost the group £300 million (US$402 million).

The luxury department store Harrods and the Co-op food chain have also been hit in recent months.

The cyberattack is the latest setback for JLR, which reported a sharp reduction in sales after it halted exports of its cars to the United States in April in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The automaker said in July it planned to cut up to 500 UK management jobs.

A trade agreement between London and Washington reduced the tariff on UK car exports to 10 percent from 27.5 percent, on a limit of 100,000 vehicles annually.