Jaguar Land Rover to recruit 133 new apprentices

Car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) says it is launching its largest recruitment of apprentices.

The company said it was looking for 133 apprentices to join the business in 2012, compared with 114 last year.

The apprentices would be based in the West Midlands - in Solihull, Castle Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Gaydon and Coventry - and Halewood, Merseyside.

Des Thurlby, from JLR, said: "Our apprentice intake has more than doubled in the last four years."

He described it as great news for the West Midlands and for JLR.

"JLR is committed to providing the highest quality practical and academic training to develop the future generation of engineering talent needed to drive our business forward," Mr Thurlby added.

The company said some of the apprentices would be based at the new engine plant it was developing on the Staffordshire-Wolverhampton border.

The group, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, produces Land Rovers in Solihull and Halewood while Jaguars are produced at the Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham.

JLR said it would be accepting applications from 6 February.