Skoda has its best year ever

Skoda UK - Record sales in 2011

Skoda UK has reported sales for the first 11 months of 2011 have already beaten total sales for 2010.

Long gone are the days when Skoda was thought of as a skip on wheels. In the little over a decade since it was brought in from the cold by VW, Skoda has gone from strength to strength.

Of course, the renaissance of Skoda from Communist joke to Capitalist success story hasn’t been easy. From the start of VW’s ownership of the Czech car maker Skoda was, at best, considered a poor relation to its parent, a bit like Polski Fiat (for those old enough to remember) with old models from the parent dressed up as new cars.

But gradually over the last decade Skoda has forged an identity for itself, and most would now consider it to be a proper car maker in its own right, with its own identity and with product that not just matches its parent but can even better it.

Cars like the Yeti and the Fabia vRs have more character and panache than the sometimes beige cars from VW, and across the range Skoda has managed to give their cars – even though they are basically VWs under the skin – a proper Skoda identity. And it’s really starting to show.

From the confidence Skoda has shown by taking its Octavia vRS off to Bonneville to set new speed records and the Fabia vRS 2000 to Worthersee, to the Vision D Concept signposting the new Skoda design language, Skoda is a company pushing very much forward.

And that confidence – and a great product range – is showing in Skoda sales. Skoda UK has just revealed that it has already beaten its total sales in the UK for 2010, and is on target for 45,000 sales by the year end.

Robert Hazelwood, Skoda UK Brand Director said:

This is a new record for ŠKODA in the UK, but we’re not stopping here. We have another month of trading to come in December, and we’re looking for a very strong finish to the year. Our congratulations to our retailer network who work very hard to deliver outstanding service to our customers and prospects. We’re looking forward to continuing our momentum into a great start to 2012.

And with Skoda’s strong current range of cars – and new models due – we would be surprised if Skoda sales in 2012 don’t top the 50,000 mark.

Well done Skoda UK.