Czech car manufacturer Skoda has announced that it has now produced 14 million cars.
The brand was once synonymous with poorly designed and built East European cars during the Communist era, but has since been revitalized as part of the Volkswagen motoring group, which Skoda became affiliated with in 1991.
The celebratory 14 millionth car rolled off the assembly line at the Czech plant at Kvasiny earlier this week. The vast majority of the 14 million cars were built since 1991. In 1991 Skoda had sold just 5 million vehicles since 1905; by 2006 5 million more cars had been produced since the entry of Volkswagen in 1991.
The car maker sold 879,200 units in 2011, more cars than ever in its history and has ambitious plans for growth in the future: Skoda plans to increase its worldwide sales to at least 1.5 million a year by 2018 and the company wants to introduce an average of one new model to the market every six months in the coming years.
The brand has moved on considerably since been the butt of many a motoring related joke in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2011 alone the manufacturer received 18 major awards, for its outstanding product and excellent customer service. Skoda has also been in the top ten of the J.D. Power Survey of Customer Satisfaction for the past 19 years.
“This celebratory car is an impressive expression of our growth strategy,” said Skoda chairman of the board, Prof. Dr. h.c. Winfried Vahland.
“We are expanding at a high speed. Almost two thirds of the 14 million cars built by the company were produced and sold in the past 20 years, four million of which were produced in the past 5 years alone.”
“We thank the entire Skoda team, which has made this development possible and which can rightly be proud of its achievement.”
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