Škoda has something in common with India: bicycles have a long tradition. The Skoda founders Václav Laurin and Václav Klement successfully sold their first jointly developed bicycles under the name Slavia from 1896 – one year after the company was founded. The Czechs are now launching a small limousine on the subcontinent under this name.
The notchback model will be presented later this year and then support the big brothers Octavia and Superb from below – in the A0 segment.
“The Slavia will offer high manufacturing quality, reliability and driving pleasure,” promises Zac Hollis, Brand Director Škoda Auto India. After the SUV Kushaq presented in spring, the Škoda Slavia is the second new model from the Czech manufacturer that has been specially developed for the Indian subcontinent. Škoda is responsible for all activities of the Volkswagen group and the INDIA 2.0 project, which includes a model offensive with a total of four new vehicles in the A0 segment. Kushaq and Slavia as well as two models from Volkswagen are based on the MQB-A0-IN version of the modular transverse matrix, which has been specially adapted to the Indian market. Localization of up to 95 percent is achieved in the production of the vehicles.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Škoda saw the Slavia bicycles as symbolic of reliability, affordability and inventiveness, which the Czechs still believe today to characterize the corporate philosophy “simply clever”. The name was also adopted for the motorcycles introduced by Laurin & Klement in 1899.
Today, however, Škoda no longer wants to build motorcycles.