Brit luxury automaker Jaguar Land Rover has reported devastating preliminary Q3 results that lay bare the cascading consequences of a crippling cyberattack, revealing wholesale volumes collapsed more than two-fifths year-on-year.

Wholesale units tumbled to just 59,200 in the three months ended December 31, the third quarter of JLR's fiscal 2026, a whopping 43.3 percent decline. Retail sales shrank 25.1 percent to 79,600 units.

At the heart of JLR's troubles lies a September cyber break-in that halted production for weeks, creating ripples through the company's global supply chain and costing the Tata Motors-owned biz and the UK economy a big chunk of change.

"Volumes in [the] quarter [were] initially impacted by production stoppages following [the] cyber incident and time required to distribute vehicles globally after production restart," the automaker said in a statement.

Manufacturing didn't return to normal levels until mid-November, leaving JLR scrambling to distribute vehicles to dealers worldwide even as the quarter drew to a close.

The company's deliberate wind-down of legacy Jaguar models ahead of new lines also served to drain volumes throughout the quarter, and recently imposed US tariffs on JLR exports dealt another blow, it said.

The carnage was global: North America saw wholesale volumes crater by an eye-watering 64.4 percent; Europe fared little better with a 47.6 percent decline; China, the world's largest automotive market, contracted 46 percent. Even the relatively stable UK market couldn't escape unscathed, albeit posting the smallest decline at just 0.9 percent. Retail sales told a similar tale.

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Caught in the grip of the digital burglary, which Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters claimed responsibility for, JLR got £1.5 billion in financial support from the UK government to aid its recovery and help companies in the supply chain as JLR struggled to bring its invoicing system online.

The Bank of England estimated that the event contributed to a slowing UK economy, with gross domestic product growing 0.2 percent in calendar Q3 versus an expected 0.3 percent.

Tata Motors confirmed in November that the shutdown of production in the UK cost JLR around £1.8 billion ($2.35 billion) in its Q2 ended September 30, including exceptional costs of £196 million ($258 million) as a direct consequence of the cyberattack.

The Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC), said the raid was the most serious type of event that it classifies, and warned it could cost the UK economy £2.1 billion ($2.75 billion).

JLR is to release full financial results for its Q3 in February. ®