BEST OF BRITISH: Aston Martin - The factory Bond built

Hidden behind the imposing, stark, ultramodern walls of Aston Martin's headquarters is one of the coolest car production lines in the world. Only in the Aston Martin factory could you get away with calling a robot the James Bonder.

A fusion of traditional craftsmanship and state of the art production processes, it's equal parts Mary Poppins and The Matrix. At one end of the factory Gwyn is hand-stitching a leather sports seat for the new DB11, while at the other a fully-autonomous robot is quietly stacking freshly-painted Vanquish bodies up to the ceiling – 24 hours a day.

Located in Gaydon, Warwickshire, in the UK's West Midlands, the Aston Martin HQ houses the company's financial and administrative staff and design studio too, where vehicles such as the stunning AM-RB 001 were conceived… And will be built.

Located just the other side of the main reception and atrium from the HQ is the production facility. Like many bespoke British vehicle factories, the pace is far from frenetic as each car is slowly, carefully hand-built, painted, upholstered and, of course, James Bonded.

The latter machine applies a special adhesive to bond the cars aluminium structure together. Welding? Too gauche for Aston Martin.

And apart from that robot and those in the paint shop, each Aston Martin car is assembled by hand, an individual vehicle taking roughly 200 man hours to build.

Employing around 1600 staff, the Vantage, Vanquish, DB9, DB11 and Rapide models are built at Gaydon while the upcoming SUV, let's call it the DBX for now, will be manufactured at a new plant in Wales from 2018.

After watching the initial 'body in white' come together, it's over to the leather works, where the upholstery, embroidery and various fine work evidenced within the cabin of each Aston Martin is fashioned.

The sheer size of this area is indicative of how seriously Aston Martin takes the touchy-feely bits inside its cars. The number of colours, finishes, stitching options and patterns offered is gobsmacking.

Another cosmetic but crucially important element of any Aston Martin is the exterior paint finish, and the production process involved is staggering. It takes between 50 and 70 hours to fully paint and finish an Aston Martin car body, depending on the paint colour and type (matt, satin, etc) required.

Watching the robots begin the initial painting process is hypnotic but the amount of sanding, polishing, buffing and inspection done by hand – as the cars unhurriedly roll down the line – is truly extraordinary.

As we roam around the production plant, watching the "marriage" of the car body with the suspension and powertrain, then the fitment of wheels before final inspection takes place, it strikes me that the pace inside Aston Martin's factory is completely different to mass-production car plants, which churn out hundreds of cars per day.

Indeed, the Aston Martin's Gaydon facility produce ONLY 14 cars per day, roughly 5000 per year. The company insiders insist never more than 7000 vehicles per annum will be made.

You can't put a price on exclusivity. But Aston somehow manages to…

Until the Aston Martin 'wings' are adhered to the front of the car, a badge hand-made in the Manchester jewellery quarter using sand and glass, the car is not complete.

With James Bonder watching on, the entire car making process is as unique as it is captivating.