Who doesn’t love cars? Be it for someone who needs it for basic transportation purposes, to someone who wants to show off the latest wheels to their friends. One thing is for sure is that there is a car for everyone, for every budget, with a sea of options in terms of brands. Either way, as the world moves, so does the demand for cars.
One such brand that is known to bring more luxury than just transportation is the Skoda car brand. These cars are known for their premium feel and designs, with amazing facilities and much more. This article is going to delve into the details about Skoda, its history, manufacturing country, and much more.
Skoda: Overview
Skoda Auto is often shortened and known as just Skoda, and it is a Czech automobile manufacturer company that was established in 1925. It was the successor to Laurin & Klement, and is headquartered in Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic.
The car brand became state owned back in 1948, and after the Velvet Revolution, the company became privatized in 1991. Over the years, it has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the German multinational conglomerate group Volkswagen since 2000.
Skoda cars are sold in over 100 countries, and 2018, its global sales reached an impressive 1.25 million units, which was an increase of 4.4% from the previous year in 2017. In the same year, it was reported that the operating profit margin was the second-highest of all Volkswagen AG brands after Porsche.
Skoda Brand History
The Skoda Works was founded by a Czech engineer named Emil Von Skoda back in 1859 in Pilsen, in the Austrian Empire. He was originally an arms manufacturer, and the company was one of the latest European Industrial conglomerates in the 20th century.
- The history dates back to the early 1890s as a company that once been manufacturing bicycles. In 1894, Vaclav Klement, who worked as a bookseller in Mlada Boleslav, was unable to find his spare parts to fix his bicycle, and thus he returned his bike to the makers, Seidel and Naum, along with a letter asking the company to repair the bicycle.
- Upon receiving a rather dismaying response, Klement decided to start a bicycle repair and he, along with Vaclav Laurin, put this theory to the test and opened a shop in 1895, Laurin was a bicycle maker hailing from the town of Turnov, which was interestingly quite close to Mlada Boleslav.
- In 1898, they moved their newly built factory and bought a Werner ‘motorcyclist’ which was made by French manufacturer Werner Brothers.
- Soon enough, Laurin and Klement made their first motorcyclette, which was powered by an engine on the handlebars, and it drove the front wheels, which was dangerous and unreliable, leading to Laurin’s accident.
- Subsequently, the pair took assistance from specialist Robert Bosche and their new, safer motorcycle went on sale in 1899.
- Back in 1900, the company had grown and had about 32 people working for them, and motorcycles began being exported, and by 1905, the company had started making automobiles.
- After World War I, the Laurin-Klement company began manufacturing trucks, but in 1924 , the company looked for a partner who could handle issues whenever problems would rise up. The company was soon bought by Skoda Works, which was a firearms maker.
- After an economic depression, Skoda found success in the future, and one of their trending cars, The Popular, in the late 1930s is an example of a popular car.
- In 1987, the Favorit was introduced and was one of the more popular car models – it was a compact front-wheel drive hatchbaks and was quite trending around that time, especially in Czechoslovakia and other Eastern Bloc countries. It also sold well in Western Europe, especially in the UK,and Denmark, thanks to its lower prices and reliability.
- Over the years, Skoda has proved that it is emerging as a leader and that it is here to stay; the brand is a force to reckon with.
Manufacturing Country
Skoda Auto has its manufacturing country located in Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic. The company also has manufacturing units in other countries like China, India, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.
Volkswagen Group Subsidiary
The fall of communism with the Velvet Revolution brought a lot of changes to Czechoslovakia and most of the industries had to deal with privatization.
- In the case of Skoda Automobiles, the state brought in a strong foreign partner, and the tender was announced back in 1990 – 24 different companies were put down for the tender, whereas only 8 actually showed a real interest. These companies include BMW, GM, Renault, Volvo, Volkswagen, Ford, Fiat, and Mercedes-Benz.
- Volkswagen offered to continue production of Skoda’s Favorit, and preserve the brand subsequently offered a purchase of 30% of Skoda’s share, which went up to 70%.
- On 30th May 2000, Volkswagen AG bought the remaining 30% of the company thus proving publicly that Skoda is wholly owned by the Volkswagen Group.
Skoda Product Lines
Models that are still being made
| Model Name | Ex-showroom price (in lakhs) | On-road price (in lakhs) |
| Fabia | INR 4.47 | INR 4.47 lakhs – 7.53 lakhs |
| Scala | INR 12 | INR 12 |
| Octavia | INR 30 | INR 26 |
| Superb | INR 55 | INR 55 |
| Kamiq | Discontinued | – |
| Kodiaq | INR 41 | INR 45.84 |
Car Models
| Model Name | Ex-showroom price (in lakhs) | On-road price (in lakhs) |
| Kylaq | INR 9 | INR 8 |
| Kushaq | INR 12.70 | INR 19 |
| Slavia | INR 11.96 | INR 10 lakhs |
Skoda Best-selling Cars as of 2024
| Rank | Model | Production |
| 1 | Octavia | 215700 |
| 2 | Kamiq | 126000 |
| 3 | Fabia | 117100 |
| 4 | Kodiaq | 14500 |
| 5 | Karoq | 109400 |
| 6 | Enyaq | 79500 |
| 7 | Superb | 72800 |
| 8 | Scala | 56300 |
| 9 | Kushaq | 19300 |
| 10 | Slavia | 16000 |
Skoda Safety Rating
As we know, safety is quite a pretty important thing for any automobile manufacturer, and this is the same case for Skoda automobiles. The Brand director, Petr Janeba, mentioned that safety is intrinsic to the Skoda DNA and every car since 2008 has been crash-tested. In India, the car has a 5 star safety rating
Trending News
Skoda has recently launched a new facility in Vietnam which will be used to assemble the CKD kits of the Indian-made Kushaq and Slavia. The company teamed up with its local partners, the Thanh Cong Group to open up a plant in the Quang Ninh Province close to the capital city of Hanoi in Vietnam.
The local assembly for Kushaw is underway, with the assembly of Slavia to roll off in the production line soon.
Story Behind Skoda Logo
The logo of Skoda first depicted a winged arrow which pointed to the right with five feathers in a circle. The second logo showed a winged arrow with three feathers and this goes famous even today. The SKODA test is added since 1936 and the arrow represents speed, whereas the wings depict progress and freedom.
Conclusion
Despite the changes in the past decades, Skoda has proved to be a leader in the automobile industry and it continues to do so with the upcoming models and recent trends. This goes to show that the brand has gone through a lot of ups and downs, and rough economic situations but it still managed to be one of the most popular car brands ever