Thirty years together. What the merger of Škoda and Volkswagen brought

In 1991, Nirvana released the album Nevermind, Whoopi Goldberg received an Oscar for Spirit, and Mikhail Gorbachev resigned from the post of President of the Soviet Union, which subsequently disintegrated.

And exactly on April 16, 1991, Škoda, despite the opposition of the then Minister of Finance Václav Klaus, became part of the Volkswagen Group.

In 1991, the car manufacturer of the Eastern world, capable of assembling less than 200,000 painfully unfashionable cars a year, embarked on a journey that seems obvious to us today, but a look at the defunct Swedish Saab or the moribund Italian Lancia shows that it certainly did not have to be so clear.

Over a million cars every year for seven years in a row. In addition to the three Czech plants in Mladá Boleslav, Vrchlabí and Kvasiny, there are also factories in China, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine and India. Over forty thousand employees around the world and a profit of tens of billions of crowns.

This is the current Škoda reality. And we looked at which essential models helped Škoda Auto to achieve this.

Skoda Favorit

The Germans had already taken over this car with the carmaker, so they could not intervene in the development. Within the Czechoslovak realities, however, the favorite was a modern car with a front engine.

Thousands of interested parties were persuaded to stand in front of the then Mototechnami even overnight with only one task: to be enrolled in the waiting list and order the Škoda Favorit.When it succeeded, then it was only necessary to wait and have prepared about 27 average monthly salaries, which were enough to buy Škoda Favorit for less than 85 thousand crowns.

The offer was quickly extended to that time – specifically in 1991 – with a station wagon version named Forman and then a utility pick-up. The number of favorites produced stopped at 1,077,126 in 1995. The successor was the Škoda Felicia.

Skoda Felicia

If you didn't have it already, you've probably at least ever ridden in it. Ten years after the end of production, the Škoda Felicia was the most frequent car on Czech roads. The car manufacturer introduced it in the autumn of 1994 and there was also a ceremonial baptism with champagne on the Charles Bridge.Here, the connection with Volkswagen has already become fully apparent. Felicia was the first Škoda to receive ABS, airbags, air conditioning or even an imported engine from Volkswagen.

And the improvement was also visible inside, where the sharp edges of the favorite were replaced by a rounded dashboard and hard plastics were replaced by door upholstery. In 1995, when the automaker was celebrating its centenary, the luxury Variant Laurin & Klement with leather seats also appeared in the offer.

Interest was also aroused by a wild creation in the form of a bright yellow version of the Škoda Felicia Fun, built on the basis of a two-seater pick-up. The sliding wall behind the seats allowed the number of seats to increase to four.

Felicia Fun was created only in the number of 4016 pieces, so today it is one of the most sought-after Škoda cars of the modern era. Production of felicia ended in 2001, with a total of over 1.4 million felicias. The successor was the Škoda Fabia. Skoda Octavia

If someone makes it to a middle management position, where he is entitled to a company car, it is almost certain that it will be a Skoda Octavia. Even this car is so crucial for the Mladá Boleslav carmaker that it cannot be missed. If only because it has long held the position of the best-selling car in the Czech Republic.

A large trunk, low consumption of diesel engines, relatively enough space for passengers and some extra centimeter in length and width compared to the competition, which gives the owner the feeling that he has a class larger car. That is, the feeling that we all kind of crave.It has been in operation since 1996, when the modern octavia was first introduced, in fact, until today. And it doesn't matter if we're talking about a short version or a station wagon that went on sale in 1998.

Today, the Octavia is a car that still sells well not only in Europe – which, paradoxically, they also see with gnashing of teeth in Volkswagen, because it takes away customers from one side of the Volkswagen Golf, but also from the class of the larger Volkswagen Passat.

China, for example, has fallen in love with the Octavia, and thousands of wealthy Indians also buy it as a luxury limousine often driven by hired drivers. Police officers know her in detail from the service, for example, as far away as New Zealand.

Skoda Superb

With the Superb, Škoda Auto has acquired a new flagship, currently offered in the third generation (the fourth will start production in two years). When the superb was first introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show twenty years ago, it aroused enthusiasm just by the fact that you could easily cross your legs in the rear seats thanks to the ample space.The second generation of the superb, which sold over 600,000 units, also offered a new station wagon version. The short version then came with a revolutionary novelty called Twindoor.

It gave a choice: when it was necessary to load only something smaller into the trunk, only the lower part of the fifth door could be opened. At the moment when the space was not enough, the lid could be opened completely. For the current generation, however, the automaker no longer offers this rare gadget.

Skoda Enyaq iV

This is the future of Škoda Auto and, almost certainly, of the entire automotive world, where electromobility is taking over. The Enyaq is the first Škoda car built from the beginning as an electric car.The internal combustion engine under the hood is missing, the tank under the rear seats is missing. The new normal is an electric motor on the axle, a battery under the floor and a charging cable rolled up in the trunk.

Enyaq, like other electric cars that are rushing at us, is likely to change the way we travel, which not everyone will like. But it is good that Škoda Auto can be there at all. And that's also thanks to Volkswagen.