Amid a warning of bankruptcy risk and thousands of lost jobs, a call has been made for the government to step in and support firms – including here in Gloucestershire – impacted by the ongoing production halt at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

The news comes as JLR confirms it will not now resume operations before October 1 following the IT-triggered shutdown of the auto giant's UK production facilities on September 1. 

Plants at Wolverhampton, Solihull and Merseyside are currently abandoned in the wake of the cyber attack which has paralysed JLR's business and sent 25,000 workers home.

With production lines at the leading global car brand at a standstill for a month, technicians are struggling to rescue and rebuild damaged computer systems and the meter is running on an ever-growing crisis for the TATA-owned British luxury car maker.

Leading analysts suggest lost output now accounts for more than 24,000 vehicles, while the downing of tools had eaten £120m in profit by the end of last week, plus some £1.7bn in lost revenue.

David Bailey, Professor of Business Economics at the University of Birmingham, told the BBC in a report on Sunday that the headache for JLR was a "wake up call" for other firms and said that while the parent firm was big enough to survive such challenges, key suppliers of OEMs for the production chain - many of which are based here in Gloucestershire - may be at risk of the impact from lost work.

Prof Bailey called on Westminster to step in with a level of furlough privision and loan guarantees, suggesting that several other nations have such provision to enable automatic part-time working during crises.

He said: "We need to start thinking about how to build the resilience of the manufacturing system."

Amid known impact at the retail end of JLR's network, makers in the firm's supply chain now face a financial strain.

Alongside its work for BMW and Honda, Gloucester-based G-TEM supplies parts to Jaguar and Land Rover (as part of the G-TEKT Corporation) and is reported to employ some 800 people at the county site, together with production facilities in South Wales.

The firm has been present in Gloucester since 1996 and is based at Gloucester Business Park. With JLR pausing its supply chain, a spokesperson for the operation in Gloucester declined to comment on the extent of the impact for G-Tekt's business in the county.

As a longstanding supplier to JLR, G-TEM was recognized as the Confederation of British Metalforming (CBM) Company of the Year earlier this year, CBM citing its growth and innovation. 

The firm supplies parts made from ultra-high strength steel and aluminum, using automated stamping and assembly processes, while it also provides design, CAE, simulation, logistics, and material management services across the auto industry.

As well as supplying JLR, G-TEM supplies parts as a part of the G-TEKT Corporation to BMW and Honda.

Believed to be ransomware, the cyber strike on JLR specifically targeted dealerships, leaving sales and admin personnel unable to register new vehicles. At this end of the business,  Jaguar Land Rover dealerships are reported to be paralysed in the routine process of registration of new vehicles, leaving them unable to pass the keys over to buyers.

Gloucestershire's main dealership for JLR is the Marshall Motor Group, based at Staverton, Marshall having acquired the Cheltenham and Gloucester JLR business from Heritage Automotive in 2021.

While new-model availability for Jaguar models is currently paused amid a rebrand, Punchline-Gloucester.com has sought comment from the dealership on the impact of the cyber incident for Land Rover and Range Rover business, the timing of the attack appearing to been deliberately been aimed to coincide with the traditional surge in interest that comes with the arrival of a new registration plate. September 1 marked the arrival of the 75 index.

The dealership declined to comment, but a note in the trader's website for Jaguar says business continues "as usual".