Back then and now
Back then and now
Road to the biggest market
The Czech carmaker began exporting its cars to China as far back as the 1930s
hinese customers purchased their first ŠKODA through the sales offices in several port cities – In Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau and Harbin. The cars headed there by sea from Hamburg and Trieste. The first documented model supplied by the carmaker to China was the POPULAR. Cars from Mladá Boleslav attracted Chinese customers thanks to a common promotional activity at the time: a long-distance trip around the world, during which the crew of the slightly bigger RAPID car made a stop in Shanghai, among other places.
The first ŠKODA car exported to China was sold in 1935 in Shanghai, and it was the POPULAR model.
The establishment of official diplomatic relations between Czechoslovakia and China in 1949 boosted the development of export to China. The local automotive industry was still in its early stages and in need of foreign technology and designers. Between 1955 and 1965, a number of Czech experts took part in a technical exchange that helped start production in China. One of them was the Mladá Boleslav carmaker’s then-chief designer, Oldřich Meduna, who was behind the development of the ŠKODA 706 truck and the ŠKODA VOS sedan. In addition to passing on his know-how, Meduna lectured at the local universities.
The Czech brand has also left a big mark on Chinese public transport thanks to the ŠKODA 706 RO bus, which originated in Mladá Boleslav. In the rapidly growing capital of Beijing, several hundred of these operated for three decades until 1974. The carmaker’s popularity has continued to grow since it joined the VW Group. In 1993, thousands of Czech cars were heading for the Chinese market, and ŠKODA AUTO presented itself at Auto Shanghai. The FAVORIT, FORMAN, FELICIA and other models gradually headed for the Chinese roads. A major milestone was reached in April 2005, when the carmaker, in cooperation with SAIC Volkswagen, officially re-entered the Chinese market through a production license agreement. It was signed at the ŠKODA Museum on a desk used by the company’s founders, Václav Laurin and Václav Klement. Czech cars gradually began to be produced at several Chinese plants. The first locally produced car was the OCTAVIA in 2007. Within six years, ŠKODA AUTO announced its millionth car, and in last July, it celebrated its 3 millionth car made in China. ED
Present
China has been ŠKODA’s largest market for many years. In 2020, 173,000 cars were delivered to local customers. These cars are produced at four SAIC Volkswagen production plants: in Nanjing, Ningbo, Yizheng and Changsha. You can read more about the Chinese production in the November/December 2020 issue of ŠKODA Mobil. The customers in this region can purchase their SUPERB, OCTAVIA, RAPID and RAPID SPACEBACK cars along with the KODIAQ (pictured), KAROQ and KAMIQ SUV models. Sports SUV versions specially tailored to the Chinese market are also available: the compact city KAMIQ GT and the top model in China, the KODIAQ GT. Local customers can already look forward to the Chinese version of the new-generation OCTAVIA model, which will be presented very soon.