Skoda’s relationship with the Volkswagen Group started on April 16, 1991 and from that moment on, the Czech automaker went from being a regional market leader to an internationally successful vehicle manufacturer.

Before VW got their hands on Skoda, there were several other car manufacturers from Western Europe and overseas that had expressed their interest in purchasing the Czech brand, originally founded in 1895.

Ultimately, it was the government that decided in favor of selling Skoda to Volkswagen (Europe’s largest automobile producer) though it wasn’t until May 30, 2000 that V-Dub actually became the sole owner of Skoda Auto.

“Skoda and Volkswagen represent a European success story,” says VW Group CEO Matthias Muller. “25 years ago, ŠKODA was a company with a long tradition and great potential. Today, ŠKODA is the Czech Republic’s leading exporter, and one of the most dynamic automotive brands in the world. Digitization and electromobility are presenting our industry with considerable challenges, but above all, they offer great opportunities. As part of the Volkswagen Group, ŠKODA has all the prerequisites to cope with change, in terms of their customers, employees and manufacturing locations. This will involve not only redefining the car, but also our company to a large extent. And we will be doing that together.”

When it came to new models, R&D and expanding production, more than 11 billion euros were invested between 1991 and the present, which ultimately led to Skoda employing approximately 28,500 people today.

The first car ever produced under the VW umbrella was the Felicia – which was simply a re-worked version of the Favorit, meaning it still came with Skoda’s own platform but it did benefit from VW’s input, becoming the first ever diesel-powered Skoda. Soon after, Skoda started building the first-generation Octavia (1996) as well as the first-gen Fabia (1999), though it was the Octavia that ended up having an incredibly long life-span – basically serving two “tours”, first from 1996 to 2004 and then another one from 2004 until 2010 as the Octavia Tour.

After the year 2000 came the first generation Superb, followed by the 2nd gen Octavia (2004), the Roomster/Praktik (2006), the second-generation Superb (2008) and the Yeti (2009).

In the present day, Skoda is one of the fundamental pillars of the Czech economy, contributing around 4.5% of the Czech gross domestic product and accounted for around 8% of Czech exports in 2015.

The company is expected to grow even further as soon as their upcoming SUV campaign kicks into gear.

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