19 Millionth Skoda rolls off production line

On December 19, 2016, the 19-millionth Skoda rolled off the production line at the main Skoda plant in Mladá Boleslav. The special car is a Moon-White coloured Skoda Fabia, which will be delivered to a customer in the Czech Republic. Founded as a bicycle manufacturing company named 'Laurin & Klement' in 1895, Skoda started producing cars in 1905. Reaching the 19 million units milestone is a big achievement for the automaker. The Czech automaker is also celebrating the 25th anniversary year of its partnership with Volkswagen this year.

On this achievement, Bernhard Maier, CEO, Skoda, said, “ŠKODA is once again on course to set a new production and sales record in 2016. In the 25th anniversary year of the partnership between ŠKODA and Volkswagen, this once again demonstrates the ŠKODA team’s capabilities and the strength of the brand.”

To get some perspective, 10 million Skoda vehicles had been produced till July 2006 and the figure increased to 15 million in February 2013 and to 18 million in January 2016. For the past three years, Skoda has been delivering more than one million vehicles yearly. In 2016, it reached the delivery milestone of one million vehicles in November – one month earlier than it did in 2015 – and is on the path towards making an all-time annual production record. Skoda currently has seven model series and more than 40 model versions in its product portfolio, and manufactures in 14 assembly plants located in seven countries.

The carmaker’s first SUV, the Kodiaq, will go on sale in the international market from February 2017. It will be introduced in India sometime next year and will compete with the likes of the Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour. Skoda might also introduce the facelifted Octavia in India.

Source: Cardekho.com