LONDON: One year after a major cyberattack halted production and hit its finances, British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover on Wednesday opened orders for a new fully electric Range Rover.
The timing of the launch was a "coincidence", JLR chief operating officer Nigel Blenkinsop told AFP, adding that the company had "recovered really, really strongly".
He said the luxury carmaker had "brought production back up to normal levels really, really quickly post the incident".
JLR, owned by India's Tata Motors, revealed at the start of September 2025 that it had been targeted by hackers, forcing it to halt production for more than one month and costing the company £196 million ($264 million).
Hit also by US tariffs, the carmaker posted a loss of £244 million in its fiscal year ending in March, compared with a net profit of £1.8 billion in 2024/5.
The hack was estimated to have cost the UK economy £1.9 billion, according to the Cyber Monitoring Centre, an independent body that measures the impact of cyber incidents.
Blenkinsop declined to comment on the figures or on a New York Times report, citing sources close to the investigation, that Russian hackers were involved in the attack.
"Clearly, we've learned huge amounts through the incident," he told AFP Wednesday.
The launch of the electric Range Rover is a major strategic issue for the brand, which plans to build between 12,000 and 15,000 units over the next six months.
"It's a global car," Blenkinsop said.
"We do expect to build and supply into the UK, into Europe, and particularly into the US, where we see huge growth potential for the Range Rover brand."
The model can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour (0 to 96 kilometres per hour) in 4.3 seconds and has a range of up to 372 miles.
With a purchase price starting at £154,070 in the UK, the car will be built in Solihull, central England, where the factory has been adapted for the electric era.
JLR has trained 9,000 employees in Solihull for electrification, along with another 1,500 across the region.