Aston Martin is to float on the London Stock Exchange in a deal that could value James Bond’s favourite sports car brand at about £5bn.

The luxury carmaker announced plans to sell about £1bn worth of shares in the initial public offering (IPO), which chief executive Andy Palmer described as “a key milestone” in the company’s history.

Aston Martin, which was founded in a small London workshop in 1913 and has expanded to become one of the world’s biggest sports car brands, has been debating whether to float its shares in London or New York.

Aston Martin aims to publish a prospectus including full details of the share sale on 20 September. Eligible employees and customers of the carmaker will be able to apply to buy shares at the offer price.

The flotation will be a big test of the appetite of investors to back British companies, as very few large IPOs are expected before the UK is scheduled to leave the European Union in March 2019.

Palmer has said that Brexit is not a huge concern for the company as it sells relatively few cars into continental Europe and is also used to dealing with tariffs in most of its export markets. However, the company imports about two-thirds of its parts from Europe.

The carmaker is hoping to double production to 14,000 vehicles a year as demand from super-rich car enthusiasts increases. The company, which is based in Gaydon in Warwickshire, sold 5,098 cars last year – its highest number in nine years. The fastest growing markets were the US, the UK and China.

Palmer said there had been an explosion of growth in China, with sales up 89% year-on-year. Aston Martin plans to open 10 new showrooms in China.

The company, which suffered a £163m loss in 2016, made a pretax profit of £87m last year on record revenues of £876m.

Aston Martins sold for an average of £160,000 in the first three months of this year – an 11% increase on the same period a year earlier. The company said the increase was due to more buyers choosing to personalise their vehicles with costly design options and special features.

The character of James Bond has driven an Aston Martin intermittently on film since 1964, when he drove a DB5 in Goldfinger. For the following year’s Thunderball, the car was adapted with a water cannon and a boot-stowed jetpack. The DB5 returned in Goldeneye in 1995 and in several Bond films since, including Skyfall and Spectre.

The legendary 1965 Aston Martin DB5, complete with superspy additions including built-in Browning machine guns and tyre slashers. Photograph: PA

The company last week announced plans to create 25 Goldfinger DB5s complete with some of Bond’s gadgets, including revolving number plates. The cars, which will all come in Bond’s silver birch colour, will cost £2.75m each and will not be road legal.

The company recently began production of its new Vantage sports car model, which is hand-built in Gaydon. Marking the start of production of the Vantage earlier this year, Greg Clark, secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, said: “Aston Martin is an iconic brand that is an integral part of Britain’s proud automotive heritage.

“Through our modern industrial strategy we are building on this success, and the new Vantage is a British-built car exemplifying the skill and innovation that sets the UK auto sector apart from its competitors.”

Next to hit the production line will be the DBS Superleggera, a super-GT with a top speed of 211 mph (340km/h) and 0-62 mph acceleration in 3.4 seconds.

The company is building a new factory in Wales, where it is expected to base production of its Lagonda Vision emissions-free electric sports car.