Started out in 1895 as Laurin and Klement, then
manufacturing bicycles. In 1899 they began the
manufacture of motorcycles, following in 1905
with the manufacture of the Voiturette automobile.
After World War 1 the company concentrated on
the manufacture of trucks, but fell on hard times
in 1924 following a large fire that all but destroyed
their manufacturing facility. Was able to avoid
bankruptcy by partnering with Škoda Works,
the biggest industrial enterprise in Austria-Hungary
and then Czechoslovakia, then building Hispano-Suiza designs
under licence at Plzen, Czechoslovakia.
Manufacturing
under the Škoda
name, the company weathered the depression and
emerged with the aptly named “Popular”,
which was indeed very popular. During World War
2 the company was turned into part of Hermann
Göring Werke, serving the German war effort.
Found itself on the wrong side of the iron curtain
following the war, and despite being starved
of technical innovation from Western marques,
continued to manufacture solid and reliable cars,
such as the Skoda 440 Spartak, 445 Octavia, Felicia
and 1000 MB. In the late 1980s Škoda (or
Automobilové Závody, Národní Podnik,
Mladá Boleslav to be precise) was still
manufacturing cars conceptually from the 1960s.
Rear-engined models such as the Škoda 105/120,
Estelle and Rapid sold steadily in many countries
and even managed to put in solid performances
against more modern marques in races such as
the RAC Rallies of the 1970's and 80's. The turning
point came in 1987 with the Favorit model; designed
by Bertone and, with some modern engine technology
obtained under license from west European manufacturers,
the Škoda engineers succeeded in designing
a car every bit the match of its Western contemporaries.
Extremely popular in Czechoslovakia and other
East European countries, the Favorit also sold
fairly well in Western Europe, particularly in
the UK where they were regarded as good value,
solid and reliable. During the 1990’s the
Czechoslovakian government brought in foreign
partner Volkswagen, the cars quickly catching
up with competition in terms of quality, innovation
and design.
1934 - 1946
There were many iterations of the popular "Popular",
Škoda's very successful car of the decade for
Europe in the 1930's. Initially released as the 906,
there was a quick succession of models including the
907, 908, and 917 up to 1938. The first example was fitted
with a rather insipid 1 litre engine, which would increase
in very small increments during the life of the vehicle. More>>
1976 - 1990
Since the 1950's Škoda had been making small
but tangible inroads into the Australian marketplace,
at first with the conventionally and very ungainly
(and unattractive) Octavia and Felicia models. But
thankfully the 120L was an entirely different proposition,
it being based on the old Renault R8/10 range - meaning
that, if but nothing else, the Škoda would
now be more reliable than its forebears. During the
late 1970’s and early 1980’s the importers
of Škoda judged the cars on their ability
to use up the entire import quota, and the 120L managed
to meet to achieve this in quick time, so something
must have been right! More>>
