“Very ambitious” growth plans have seen Jaguar Land Rover increase its graduate intake to 336, according to a company spokesperson.

The new recruits have started on a two-year programme aimed at providing the technical expertise, personal development and knowledge required for a career in automotive.

In March, the automotive firm announced it would hire 280 graduates in 2011, compared to 135 last year.

A Jaguar Land Rover spokesperson told Recruiter: “When we were looking at our recruitment targets for the year, it was around 150 and we have more than doubled that in response to the fact that the business has announced some very ambitious growth plans.

“We have committed more than £1.5bn a year in product creation over the next five years to support those plans. There has been an evaluation and we have determined that there are opportunities for us to take on more graduates than we had initially planned for.”