A £20 MILLION facility has been opened by Jaguar Land Rover to create some of the world's most desirable cars.

The new headquarters of JLR's Special Vehicle Operations division has the ability to turn out more than 5,000 bespoke models a year to satisfy motoring VIPs.

Hand-finished and crafted to the hilt the SVR cars can be painted in any colour required with luxury interiors decked out to individual specification.

Elite buyers can spend up to £50,000 embellishing their cars to make them absolute one-offs, taking personalisation to the extreme.

Much of the 20,000 square metre SVO site in Oxford Road, Ryton-on-Dunsmore in Coventry - close to Jaguar's spiritual Browns Lane home in the city - is taken up with an ultra-modern paint shop covering the equivalent of 46 tennis courts and including more than 500 metres of track.

JLR says that from 36 primary colours there are 288 paint permutations and individual hues can be mixed on demand.

There's also a choice of satin, matt, metallic or a deep lustre ChromaFlair finishes and each is baked to perfection at 140 degrees centigrade for 40 minutes.

Primer coats used in the treatment have the heat turned up to 180 degrees and the whole paint process involves robotics as much as traditional hand-spray techniques.

The result is models that look a million dollars resplendent in colours not normally seen on the likes of Range Rovers or Jaguar F-TYPEs - and each denoted by special SVO badges front and rear.

The paint shop is also geared up to cater for regular buyers who want a special paint finish with the bodies being transported by road from JLR's Solihull factory for spraying at the new workshops.

The opening of the SVO building comes two years after JLR set up the specialist team headed by former Land Rover boss John Edwards.

With 200 employees at the new works SVO now has a workforce of more than 1,000 producing specialist vehicles such as the Range Rover Sport SVR, the Range Rover SVAutobiography and the Jaguar F-TYPE SVR.

Production is carried out under F1-style conditions in a dust-free environment. Vehicles being worked on are protected by mat covers bearing the legend ‘Passion for Perfection' - a mission statement if ever there was.

Models being prepared included armoured Land Rovers for VIPs as well as examples of the Project 7 F-TYPE 200mph high performance roadster of which only 250 are to be produced.

The SVO team is also tasked with looking after classic Jaguars and Land Rovers from around the world and as well as restoration work it is also producing parts to keep the cars in working order.

Other projects include the production of ‘living legends' such as a new run of the six remaining E-TYPE Lightweights and a recreation of the Jaguar XKSS.

As SVO director Mark Stanton said: "We are turning up the volume from 10 to 11."

A similar operation is being created for classic Land Rovers where donor vehicles will be returned to their former glory and sold on.

At the heart of the new headquarters is a computerised commissioning suite where buyers can configure their vehicles to individual specifications using a giant tablet-style display to select trim combinations and other extras.

JLR says it plans to expand its SVO operations and increase the number of its vehicles with the bespoke touch.

At the opening of the new building, John Edwards said: Our business plans are driven by the desire for ‘halo' vehicles and other exclusive products from customers in all corners of the globe.

"The vision for Special Vehicle Operations is to launch one new SVO car every year, on average, for at least the next four years."