A ?kodA year in review - Skoda Auto

History of ŠKODA AUTOThe fascinationof traditionCompany forefathers VáclavLaurin (centre left) and VáclavKlement (far left) laid the foundationfor the first 117 years ofeventful automotive history atŠKODA. The completely renovatedMuseum in Mladá Boleslavuses a wide range of exhibitsto tell its moving story in detail.The Museum’s large windowfronts also provide an interestingglimpse from outside.The so-called ‘type case’ (right)brings the rich ŠKODA modelhistory to life.‘skeleton’. The ‘metamorphosis’ continues ona third lifting platform, which presents thefirst step in the restoration of a partially rebuiltŠKODA 430 Convertible from 1932. And,finally, the ‘gem’ of the collection, an elegantdark-blue ŠKODA 645 Faux Convertible from1930, which experts have already fully rebuiltin a total of 3,800 hours of work between1998 and 2001.Rich history with a happy futureThe history of ŠKODA AUTO has alwaysbeen inextricably linked to its two, verydifferent, company founders, Václav Laurinand Václav Klement: the engineer Laurin,hardworking and a little reserved, and Klement,the worldly-wise marketing expert,originally a bookseller, who joined forcesto set up a bicycle factory in Mladá Boleslav.Why and how the Company was bornis also explained in detail at the Museum.The story of ŠKODA AUTO begins in late1895, as the two embarked on their adventuretogether with just two workers andan apprentice in a tiny 120 m 2 workshop.The Company expanded quickly, switchedto production of motorcycles, and, thanksto the inventiveness and entrepreneurialcourage of its two founders, soon becamea highly-respected automobile company,initially under the name ‘Laurin und Klement’,or L&K for short.The merger with the Plzeň-based mechanicalengineering company, ŠKODA, in 1925,provided the Company with urgently-neededcapital and secured its future. For awhile, vehicles sported both brand logos.Crucial investment to expand standardisedassembly-line production transformed thefounder-driven, small-series carmaker into afinancially-powerful volume manufacturer –which it remained, right up until World WarII. Then, like many automobile manufacturersin other countries, ŠKODA also had to switchfrom civil automobile production to wartimeproduction.As ŠKODA braved a difficult post-war periodand the political bureaucracy of the plannedeconomy, its creative engineers continuedto set innovative trends in vehicle developmentuntil the mid-1960s. However, bythis time, ŠKODA was increasingly sufferingunder a centrally-directed model policy, lackof capital, and ultimately under the failingcompetitiveness of its cars abroad, until, afterthe Velvet Revolution, Volkswagen Groupacquired ŠKODA in 1991, heralding a new erafor the Company.ŠKODA reveals its treasuresThe brand’s strong sense of tradition isnot only on display in the newly-openedMuseum, but also at the many renownedvintage-car events, where ŠKODA proudly46 2012 – A Škoda year in review