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By
EWAN KENNEDY
23 July 2007
The name Skoda may not mean a lot to Australian car buyers at
this time. Yet this Czech car company is one of the world’s oldest. It
began to make bicycles in 1895, a precedent it shares with quite a few
other car makers, and built its first car over 100 years ago, in 1905.
However, the name ‘Skoda’ didn’t appear on cars until 1925,
previously they had rejoiced under the name of Laurin & Klement,
after the two Czech co-founders of the bicycle company.
After going nowhere in particular during the years in which
Russia controlled Czechoslovakia, Skoda looked for a western
European car partner in 1989. Eventually forming an alliance with
Volkswagen in 1991, when the German marque took a 51 per cent
share in the organisation.
In 2000 VW took over complete control of Skoda, though the
Czechs still have a solid degree of independence in design a
engineering. Indeed, Skoda still thinks of itself as being a Czech
car company. After all, Skoda can point out that its history is
half a century longer than that of Volkswagen.
Skoda sold cars in Australia on and off between 1949 and 1983,
with ‘off’ being the descriptive word more often than ‘on’.
This time Skoda is coming back in a big way, with a strong push
that’s backed by the very successful team currently running
Volkswagen in our country.
Skoda recently invited a small group of Australian journalists
to visit its head office and factory to talk to senior executives,
as well as to drive Skodas.
Two models will initially be offered: the Skoda Octavia is
largely based on the Volkswagen Jetta, but has a completely
different body. To be sold in Australia as a four-door sedan or
five-door station wagon, Octavia is largely conventional in its
style and makeup. As is the way with Skoda there's a strong
emphasis on interior space, so there's ample seating for four
Aussie-sized blokes.
The other Skoda model is called the Roomster and is totally
original in its shape. Again, there's a strong design element in
the roominess direction – which, given its name shouldn’t come
as a surprise. Roomster shares some underbody components with
Volkswagen and uses engines and transmissions designed by the
German company.
Other Skoda models are under consideration and the local
importer says it would like to eventually have a virtually
complete range of the cars in its sales list. Somewhat oddly, it
only builds cars, there are no commercial vehicles in the lineup.
An SUV is in the design stages, but won’t be launched for two to
three years.
Skoda dealers will be largely centred around the VW dealer
group in Australia. Initially they will be in the State capitals.
Major country cities are under consideration as part of a future
expansion program.
Skoda cars are currently sold in over 90 countries, with
factories in seven of them. In 2006, worldwide sales were almost
550,000, an increase of more than 11 per cent over the previous
year. The return of Skoda to Australia is seen as a very important
one to the Czechs as they are anxious to make a move into what
they see as being a major western market.
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Marque Publishing Company
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