The millionth Fabia car came down the production line in a Skoda Auto plant in Mladá Boleslav last month. The jubilee car - a silver Fabia RS manufactured to direct order - was taken over personally by a customer of Great Britain during the ceremonial act.
The Skoda Fabia has won several significant awards since its launch on the market: the prestigious Golden Wheel award in Germany in November 1999; and it reached the final of the all-European Car of the Year 2000 contest.
It became the best car not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Denmark, Great Britain, Croatia, Slovakia, Lithuania and Ukraine.
Its prestigious awards include third place overall in the Auto 1 competition in 2000, organised by the Auto Europe group of magazines; the Fabia was the winner of Auto 1 national polls in the Czech Republic, and Austria.
The German specialist magazine Autoflotte bestowed the Most Efficient Car title to the Skoda Fabia. In Great Britain, the Fabia won acknowledgement as the safest car in its class (the magazine Which?) and three Best Supermini titles in What Car? polls in consecutive years: 2000, 2001 and 2002.
The Fabia's safety was also acknowledged with four stars in the EuroNCAP crash test carried out on the car equipped with just one airbag.
One of the most successful Skoda cars in the company's history, the Fabia made its debut at the Frankfurt International Motor Show in September 1999. The Fabia Estate model followed at the Paris Motor Show a year later.
The Fabia sedan was introduced at the Geneva International Motor Show in February 2001.
Karl-Günter Büsching, Skoda Auto corporate director responsible for production and logistics, told the journalists and guests present: "The Fabia has had a firm position within our manufacturing programme for more than four years. It has used its high quality and soundness ultimately to convince its customers that the Skoda brand justifiably belongs to the Volkswagen Group family.
"Even the start of its production in September 1999 was convincing, and the first 100,000 Fabias were assembled during 11 months after the start of series production launch. We consider this success to be a standard for all the next starts so far as well as for the manufacture of the new-generation Octavia, for example, which is now being started."
The jubilee Skoda Fabia RS car is powered by a 135 bhp diesel engine combined with a manual six-speed gearbox. The car's equipment includes xenon headlamps, lateral and front airbags, Electronic Stability Programme (ESP), special bucket seats, and a number of optical interior and car-body elements.
Out of the total number of a million Fabia cars produced, there have been approximately 622,000 hatchbacks, 300,000 estate versions and 76,000 sedans. Apart from that, more than 2,000 Fabia Praktik utility cars have been manufactured. The Fabia model family's share in the Skoda Auto company's total output amounts to almost 60 per cent.
The full range of Fabia/Octavia and Superb models in the Skoda range are available at the local agents Frank Borda Limited at the Gala Centre in Testaferrata Street, Msida.