Cycling curiosity brought them together: Who are the two friends who founded Skoda?

The company was founded in 1895 when two people working in the family company Laurin & Klement formed a partnership to make bicycles. They started producing motorcycles in 1899 and cars 6 years later. Its factory is located in the city of Mlada Boleslav. "Škoda" means "damage" in Czech.

The Mlada Boleslav factory, which is defined as the "heart of production" of the Czech manufacturer Skoda, still maintains this feature. More than 12 million vehicles have been manufactured since 1905 in the factory, which has a history of more than 100 years and has been constantly renewed and expanded.

The Mlada Boleslav factory, which started its life as a small facility where the founders of the brand, Laurin and Klement, produced bicycles, is one of the most important and powerful facilities of the automotive industry. While more than 20 thousand people work at the factory, the capacity has increased to 1200 units per day with continuous investments.

A new body line and a fully automatic paint shop were added to the factory, which has been completely renovated and developed since 1991, when the Volkswagen Group and Skoda partnership began, with the investments made in 2012, while a new environmentally friendly press line was built in 2013.

Mlada Boleslav realizes "50 percent" of Skoda's production worldwide. However, after 9 hours of bodywork, 8 hours of paint and 4 hours of final assembly, the total production process of a vehicle from scratch takes 1 day. The production capacity of the factory is 600 thousand vehicles per year.

125 years ago

Klement, whose bicycle broke down in 1894, wrote a letter to the German bicycle manufacturer asking for his bicycle to be repaired. In response to this letter comes the message: 'You must write in a language we understand so that we can help you'. Perceiving this as an insult, Klement and his friend Laurin founded the bicycle repair shop under the name Skoda in 1895. This is how the story begins.

Skoda was founded 125 years ago on December 21, 1895, by Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement. Laurin was a mechanic and Klement was a bookseller, and they both had a passion for cycling. The plan was to offer a high-quality bike at a reasonable price in the early days and to produce foot or hand-powered bikes together. If you're a bike enthusiast, you might be more familiar with the SLAVIA brand where they sold their first bike.

The company then switched to motorcycle production in 1899. The SLAVIA A and B models were produced first. Motorcycles had engines placed lower on the chassis than their competitors to increase stability. Low engine layout became the international standard and helped the company enter a period of rapid growth. With this success, they went to the competition and won a number of important races, including the 1905 Dourdan near Paris.

1905 was also the year the company produced its first automobile. The Laurin & Klement Voiturette A was light, maneuverable, and powered by a 1.0-liter two-cylinder engine. It helped the car go at speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph). Just a year later, Laurin & Klement began producing vehicles with two- and four-cylinder engines. In 1907, L&K produced the first 8-cylinder Type FF.

The name Skoda came in 1925 when L&K, Pilsen partnered with Skoda, an engineering group. After the war, Skoda was nationalized. Under Soviet rule, Octavia and Felicia produced and continued to grow. In 1975, his success in the rally earned him the title of Porsche of the East.

In 1991, the Berlin Wall came down and the growing Volkswagen turned its attention to Skoda. In this way, Skoda became the fourth brand in the Volkswagen empire.

Škoda means “damage” in Czech.

The meaning of the Skoda logo:

To dream of wings in a circle, to care; The arrow symbolizes speed and progress. With the emblem it uses, the company wants to show that all cars have these qualities.