Flight through the ŠKODA world

What’s happening at ŠKODA AUTO

Positive balance even 

in times of crisis

Although its car sales and revenues have been significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which has dampened the global economy, ŠKODA AUTO has remained one of the few big companies in the country to generate a profit during the first three quarters. Its operating result for this period amounts to EUR 469 million (approximately CZK 12.5 billion). The number of cars delivered to customers during the first nine months fell by 21 percent year on year to a total of 721,900 cars. The main reason for the decline was the forced production shutdown in the spring. For example, in September, the carmaker delivered 104,600 cars and beat last year’s level by 2.6 percent. Its revenues for the first three quarters exceeded EUR 12 billion (CZK 320 billion) with profitability of 3.9 percent. Similar results were reported by the entire VW Group. The carmaker’s deliveries fell by 18.7 percent year on year to 6.5 million cars, but the operating result remained positive at EUR 2.4 billion (CZK 64 billion).

cars were delivered by ŠKODA AUTO to the Czech market in the first nine months of the year, a year-on-year decrease of 11.3 percent

New faces in management

Dr Johannes Neft (left) will take over as Board Member for Technical Development at the beginning of next year, replacing Christian Strube who is wrapping up his professional career, worked in this position for five years and managed, among others, the completion of the technical development of the ENYAQ iV electric car and the new generation of the OCTAVIA model. Dr Neft, who has a PhD in materials science, has been working for the VW Group since 1999. For the past four years, he has been in charge of Body Development. There will be another big change on 1 January 2021, when the head of GQ – Quality Management, Frank Schreier, retires after 40 years of working for the VW Group. The current head of EG – Entire Car Development, Dr Florian Weymar (right), will take over from him.

Employees strive for zero landfill

The Vrchlabí plant has joined the Nevyhazujto.cz Internet exchange project, which allows people to offer things that would otherwise end up in a landfill in exchange for having them collected. To this end, the Vrchlabí employees are using a new portal. It simplifies the handover communication and has greater credibility, given that everything takes place among colleagues. If no one from the carmaker chooses an offered item within 10 days, the portal will automatically offer it to other users as well.

You can find the Vrchlabí plant’s 

Internet exchange for employees at 

www.skoda.nevyhazujto.cz.

Construction

Pre-series production background 

The construction of a new Central Pilot Hall on the premises of the Mladá Boleslav plant has been completed. The original electroplating plant, which later became a warehouse, no longer served its purpose. As part of the plant’s revitalisation, a new facility was built here. The facility with the new designation, M63, will make it possible to handle new car pre-production requirements, including the production of bodies, as well as entire cars, and their commissioning. There will also be construction tests and analyses, during which the use of virtual reality, digitisation and 3D printing will be expanded. The ceremonial facility handover took place on 2 November in the presence of Dr Michael Oeljeklaus, Board Member for Production and Logistics, and Jaroslav Povšík, Chairman of the KOVO Trade Union. The technology is currently being installed, and commissioning is planned for the beginning of 2021.

Achievements

Great car award

The Austrian Automobile Association ARBÖ awarded the fourth-generation OCTAVIA model in its medium category for cars priced EUR 20,001 to 50,000. The award was received by Max Egger, Sales Director of Porsche Austria (see the photo). The ŠKODA brand’s bestseller won the most votes among the 100-member jury for the first time; the SUPERB model has already won the award on two occasions. The evaluation took five criteria into account: technical design, economy, reliability, environmental friendliness and the price/utility value ratio. The OCTAVIA is currently the best-selling model on the Austrian market.

How they see us

automobilrevue.cz  (29 October 2020)

OCTAVIA e-TEC 1,0 TSI 81 kW

Electric OCTAVIA models do not replace conventionally powered variants but expand the offer for customers with various needs. And so it should be.

Lightning-fast responses during accelerations

Natural and smooth drive unit operation

More expensive than a standard three-cylinder, but this is necessary because of the automatic transmission

Group News

Ecological mobility example

The Greek island of Astypalaia will become a model example of the environment served by electric cars powered by renewable energy. VW has reached an agreement with the Greek government in this regard. Car-sharing and ride-sharing systems will also help to optimise the traffic load. The goal is for the current approximately 1,500 cars with internal combustion engines to be replaced by approximately 1,000 electric cars and electric scooters. The project is part of the Go to Zero strategy, and its initial phase will last six years.

Models

ENYAQ iV in the Spanish hills

After the Tour de France, the new fully electric ŠKODA SUV was also shown at the La Vuelta bicycle race. The racers were accompanied in three stages by several of these cars, and one of them served as the director’s Red Car. In the 13th stage, which was the individual time trial, the ENYAQ iV, as well as the winning rider, Primož Roglič, successfully handled the final climbs, sometimes with gradients of up to 20 percent. On the last two days, a specially equipped electric car overcame the challenging terrain to Alto de la Covatilla and crossed the finish line in Madrid.

ŠKODA AUTO helps

lunch menus

were delivered

to healthcare

workers in seven

Czech hospitals with ŠKODA’s support.

Each of the

packages also

included a jersey

from the national

hockey team.

Tasty reward for healthcare workers

The ŠKODA fleet was used to deliver three-course lunch menus from top restaurants to seven Czech hospitals whose nominations were a result of voting on www.skodaautopomaha.cz. The cars were driven, among others, by representatives of the Czech ice hockey team led by coach Filip Pešán, as well as ŠKODA influencers, such as actor Marek Lambora (pictured below) and speed skater Martina Sáblíková. Teams from the U Matěje restaurant in Prague and Koishi in Brno cooked the meals for the healthcare workers.

Dear Readers

The ŠKODA Mobil edition that you are reading right now is marked November/December. The next issue, which will be released on Friday, 18 December, will be marked as January, and this shift will continue with all subsequent issues. We have decided to adjust how the employee newspaper is dated, so that it corresponds more closely to the period related to the current information, invitations or calls provided in it and when you are reading a particular issue of ŠKODA Mobil.

ŠKODA Mobil editorial staff