The millionth Skoda Octavia car came down the assembly line in a Skoda Auto plant in Mladá Boleslav last Tuesday.
The Octavia is the first Skoda developed and manufactured on the basis of technologies shared by the Volkswagen Group brands. The Octavia has become a symbol of fundamental rebirth of the whole enterprise contributing to restoration of the Skoda brand's prestige, image and respect.
The car has become popular, particularly thanks to its modern, timeless design, reliability, high-quality finish, attractive price and low operating cost. The current Octavia has also won a number of awards.
It reached the final of the European Car of the Year contest in 1997; and the Octavia estate version won the 1999 National Design Award in the Czech Republic and Best Car of the Year 2000 in the estate category by English magazine Auto Express, to name but a few.
The current Octavia's safety was also acknowledged in the autumn of 2001 in the EuroNCAP crash test, winning four stars. The first generation Octavia, equipped with only one airbag, ranks among the safest cars of its class.
The jubilee car is a Skoda Octavia Estate Ambiente in Graphite grey frosted finish, powered by a fuel-efficient 1.9 TDI turbodiesel engine with direct injection, delivering 90 bhp. The car, equipped with Climatronic automatic air-conditioning, sun roof, ABS, MBA and ASR safety systems, and 16-inch light-alloy wheels, was manufactured to a Hungarian customer's direct order.
Of the one million Octavias produced, 646,668 were liftbacks and 353,332 estates. Customers took over 44,032 four-wheel drive cars - Octavia 4x4 and Octavia Estate 4x4, 14,069 Laurin & Klement luxury versions and 13,286 Octavia RS and Octavia Estate RS sporty versions. All these special models are manufactured in a Skoda Auto plant at Vrchlabí.
Karl-Günter Büsching, a Skoda Auto corporate director responsible for production and logistics, said during the ceremony: "(The fundamental success of a car depends not only on engineering and technology, but largely also on the skills and workmanship of those who take part in car production, ranging from car design to quality inspection prior to (delivery). That is why I would like to express thanks to our fellow workers for their work and devotion."
The first-generation Skoda Octavia made its debut at the Paris Motor Show in September 1996. Its series production got under way at full speed in a newly built plant in Mladá Boleslav that same year.
The Skoda Octavia Estate version was presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show a year later. The Octavia model became the basis for the first Skoda four-wheel drive car in the brand's modern history - the Octavia Estate 4x4 was launched in 1999 and the liftback version was put on the market in the spring of 2001.
The sporty Octavia RS has been available since 2000; it was completed with the Estate RS version in the summer of 2002.
Skoda's local agent is Frank Borda Limited of Testaferrata Street, Msida.