The History of Skoda

The history of automobile concern SKODA began in 1869, when a young engineer Emile Skoda bought a small mechanical plant, founded in Pilsen by the noble family Valdstein ten years earlier. In 1899 the SKODA plant was transformed into a joint-stock company, and then gradually became one of the largest automobile factories of Austria-Hungary. The first SKODA heavy trucks and tractors were produced in 1905, they were produced for army purposes with 45-90 horsepower engines and all-wheel drive and steerable wheels.

In 1919, at the Škoda plant in Czechoslovakia was opened shop number 83 for the production of military tractors and production of civilian vehicles. In 1921 the first 3-ton trucks Skoda-304 and 306 with 4 and 6-cylinder engines with an output of 45-65 hp were produced. In 1923 the plant licensed by the British Sentinel company in Skoda locomotive shop began assembling 5-ton steam trucks with 2-cylinder steam engine with an output of 70 hp. In the summer of 1925 a new stage in the development of the Škoda brand began: The company Laurin-Klement from Mlada Boleslav was incorporated into the Plzeň industrial complex, which received the name Škoda.

After the inclusion of the plant Skoda in 1994 into the concern Volkswagen (Volkswagen) appeared a front-wheel drive car Felicia. In 2 years later the plant in Kvasina and Vrchlabi have started to produce light distribution vehicles on its base: a pickup with a payload of 600 kg and a van with 450 kg payload and a body volume of 2.2 m3. In addition to the standard 68 hp gasoline engine, they were offered with a Volkswagen diesel (1896 cm3, 65 hp) and power steering.

In 2000, a new series Fox with a GVW of 19 tons and 290-330 horsepower engines was added to the range. At the end of XX century the situation of Skoda-LIAZ plants remained difficult. If at the best of times 18 thousand vehicles were produced there annually, by the end of 90-ies production was reduced to several hundred trucks per year. Do not forget to use Skoda VIN decoder in order to avoid potential problems when buying a used car.