New Skoda Cars

The transformation in Skoda's fortunes and reputation has been a remarkable story in today's motoring industry. No longer is the manufacturer derided for its products rather that when it comes to automobiles, a Skoda is now the thinking man's choice.

The origins of Skoda go back to the early 1890s where, like many long-established car manufacturers, the company started out manufacturing bicycles. By 1905, however it was manufacturing cars. Over the years the company suffered for not investing sufficiently in new technology and new models so consequently tended to be selling older models against much newer competition.

The turning point came in 1987 with the Favorit model. The Favorit's appearance was designed by Italian design company Bertone. With some motor technology licensed from western Europe, but still using the Skoda designed 1289 cc engine, Skoda engineers succeeded in designing a car comparable to western production. The technological gap was still there, but began closing rapidly.

The Velvet Revolution brought great changes to Czechoslovakia and most industries were subject to privatisation. In the case of Skoda Automobile, the government brought in a strong foreign partner in the shape of Volkswagen and in April, 1991, Skoda become the fourth brand of the Volkswagen Group. Backed by Volkswagen?s expertise and investments the design of its cars, both in style and engineering has improved greatly to such an extent that the current Skoda range is now one of the most popular on the market.