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.
