Today Skoda Auto is one of the leaders in the European automotive market and the real pride of the Czech people. Excellent technical characteristics of cars of this brand are appreciated all over the world.
The Skoda Auto brand, which is now familiar to almost every motorist, emerged in 1925 as a result of the merger of two Czech engineering companies. The road to the pinnacle of success for this car brand has been long and thorny.
Emil Skoda
The history of the Skoda brand dates back to the sixties of the 19th century. It was then that the Czech entrepreneur Emil Skoda became the owner of an enterprise specializing in the production of metallurgical and mechanical engineering products.
The company, based in Pilsen, has reached the European level for several decades and is particularly successful in the production of metallurgical and foundry equipment. By the beginning of the First World War (1914-1918), the Emil Skoda factory had somewhat changed its field of activity, becoming one of the most famous and successful manufacturers of heavy weapons in Europe and in the world.
Laurin & Klement
No one can say for sure whether the Skoda brand would have achieved success in the automotive industry if it had not been for its merger with the Czech company Laurin & Klement.
Laurin & Klement was founded by two entrepreneurial friends Vacdav Klement and Vaclav Laurin in 1895. Having started its activity with the production of bicycles, the company gradually changed the field of activity and moved to the production of motorcycles.
In 1905, Laurin & Klement launched its first car, the Voiturette A, powered by a modest two-cylinder engine by today's standards. In 1907, it was by this company that an eight-cylinder engine was presented for the first time in Europe.
At the end of the First World War, automobile production began to develop rapidly in European countries. Agricultural machinery, aircraft engines, trucks and buses were in particular demand. Laurin & Klement, which by that time had already entered the world market, had to join one of the European industrial leaders to expand its production capacity.
Such a leader was the engineering company Skoda. The merger with the industrial giant and, accordingly, the liquidation of the Laurin & Klement trademark took place in 1925. This event marked the beginning of the production of passenger cars under the Skoda Auto brand.
