McLaren Automotive has celebrated the manufacture of its 10,000th road car from its Production Centre in Woking.

The special McLaren 570S, finished in a Ceramic Grey paintwork from the Special Ops ‘Defined’ palette, rolled off the Production line just over five years after the first car, a McLaren 12C, was completed.

Commenting on the moment, McLaren Automotive Chief Executive Officer Mike Flewitt said: “The production of the 10,000th McLaren is a significant milestone in the short history of the company. The fact that it took us 42 months to build our 5,000th car and just 22 months to build the next 5,000 speaks volumes about the pace of development of the company. Much of that development is thanks to the introduction of the Sports Series family of cars and it’s therefore fitting that the 10,000th car is a McLaren 570S.”

In early 2016, a second shift was introduced at the Production Centre to cater for the increased volume of the new Sports Series family, comprising of the 540C, 570S and 570GT. This took capacity at the Production Centre from 10 to 20 cars per day. McLaren says it's also on target to almost double sales this year compared to 2015, from 1,654 cars last year to over 3,000 cars in 2016, of which over 90% will be exported.

The McLaren Production Centre took 14 months to build from breaking ground until the 18 July 2011 when the first car was approved for shipping. Since then, the Production Centre has been the only location where McLaren cars have been built, from the initial 12C and 12C Spider, through to the 650S and 675LT in the Super Series, as well as each of the 375 highly-bespoke McLaren P1TM cars. Today, the Centre employs around 750 people out of a total of approximately 1,750 employed by McLaren Automotive.

The 10,000th car will be retained by the company in its Heritage Collection.