Skoda celebrates as it hits the 18 million mark, and this will grow quicker in the future.

• Superb Estate is ŠKODA’s 18 millionth car produced since 1905.
• Kvasiny production facility undergoing extensive investment and expansion.
• Production capacity will increase to 280,000 vehicles annually and create up to 1,300 new jobs. 

ŠKODA AUTO has manufactured its 18 millionth vehicle since the company first started building cars in 1905.

The car – a ŠKODA Superb Estate in Candy-White – rolled off the production line at the firm’s Kvasiny plant in the Czech Republic. ŠKODA CEO Bernhard Maier, ŠKODA Board Member for Production Michael Oeljeklaus and the Chairman of the Trade Union KOVO, Jaroslav Povšík were there for the occasion.

Visiting the facility for the first time since his appointment in November 2015, Maier said; “Kvasiny is a production site with a great tradition and an outstanding team. You immediately sense the enthusiasm with which people carry out their tasks here. 

This is where automobile construction is lived, and implemented to an exemplary quality and efficiency. Today we have 18 million reasons to be proud of our employees’ performance. Without them, the success of the ŠKODA brand would be unimaginable.”

“Producing 18 million vehicles is an enormously high number,” said Jaroslav Povšík. “This milestone is an impressive demonstration of the skill our colleagues at ŠKODA have in car construction, and their great dedication to the company’s success over the past 120 years.”

The Kvasiny plant is currently undergoing extensive modernisation and expansion, and in future the production capacity of the facility will increase to 280,000 vehicles annually, creating up to 1,300 new jobs in the process.

Michael Oeljeklaus said “Over the last five years, we have significantly increased the number of high-quality vehicles produced worldwide. The ŠKODA plants in the Czech Republic have made a significant contribution to this. This is the heart of our international production network. Since 1991, we have invested more than 300 billion crowns into modernizing and expanding our production facilities in the Czech Republic.”

A new pilot hall was opened during the visit to Kvasiny and 50 ŠKODA employees started work there that same day. Here the local team receives the first technical information some three years before series production of a ŠKODA model begins and analyses and evaluates that data to optimise processes before production starts.

Kvasiny is one of ŠKODA’s three production sites in the Czech Republic. In addition to the ŠKODA Yeti, the Superb and Superb Estate currently run off the production lines there. The production of ŠKODA’s SUV models will also play an important role at the location in the future.

Around 150,000 ŠKODA vehicles were produced at the Kvasiny plant in 2015 and 4,500 people are currently employed at the site, making it one of the largest industrial employers in the Hradec Králové region. In 1895, Mladá Boleslav became the foundation for ŠKODA’s success story and 52 years later the Kvasiny plant was established as a second important production site in former Czechoslovakia.

Selected milestones in ŠKODA AUTO’s manufacturing history:

• 19 January 2016: 18 million ŠKODA cars produced since 1905
• 24 November 2015: 12 million ŠKODA cars produced at the Mladá Boleslav plant
• 10 December 2014: ŠKODA manufactures the 1 millionth vehicle in 2014 – the first time the company had produced one million vehicles in a single year
• 19 March 2014: 11 million ŠKODA cars produced at the Mladá Boleslav plant
• 26 August 2013: 4 million ŠKODA Octavias produced
• 9 July 2013: 1 Million ŠKODA vehicles in China since 2007
• 5 February 2013: 15 million ŠKODA vehicles since 1905
• 30 January 2012: 14 million ŠKODA vehicles since 1905
• 12 October 2011: 10 million ŠKODA vehicles at the Mladá Boleslav plant
• 8 April 2009: 12 million ŠKODA vehicles since 1905
• 13 July 2006: 10 million ŠKODA vehicles since 1905
• 1991: 5 million ŠKODA vehicles since 1905