Can’t believe it’s a Skoda. In his time really fast (he even won races!), the 1100 OHC is now so cute to cuddle that I like to dry the tears of emotion that dripped on the paintwork with my jacket lapel. The Czech automaker’s past is in most people’s minds as gray and unimpressively eastbound (not quite rightly so, as you can see), but the present is far brighter.
What’s the surprise? That Skoda has only been on the Austrian market for 30 years, or that it’s ALREADY 30 years? Back then, in 1992, the brand did not radiate as much fascination as the little red racing car that the importer presented to his guests at the anniversary ceremony at Schloss Hof. Only Max Egger, who is still Managing Director of Skoda Austria today, saw something glowing back then and started a success story that has long since become a novel. It all started in this country with the Skoda Forman and Skoda Favorit (also available as a pick-up). It was quite foreseeable that something could really come of it, after all, Volkswagen had taken over the brand a year earlier. Slowly and then more and more quickly, the cheap Eastern charm gave way to a cheap but likeable appearance. In 1994, the Felicia replaced the Favorit, and sales figures exploded. And when the first modern Octavia was introduced in 1996, there was no holding back: The technology of the VW Golf, but cheaper and, above all, a vehicle class larger – there had never been so much car for so little money before. A concept that the Czechs stuck with for a long time and that still defines them to some extent today. In 2009, a real popular figure came along with googly eyes: even Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson dedicated a detailed test report to the Skoda Yeti, which turned into a 15-minute hymn of praise. It’s a shame that they first took away his character face (via facelift) and then discontinued the series completely in 2017. He did not get an adequate successor. There is no such thing as the Yeti on the market: cheap, comfortable, really easy to drive and, despite its small dimensions, has a lot of space without being a commercial vehicle. Almost classless. The whole car has become a vehicle motto: simply clever. The Skoda par excellence is still the Octavia. In 2019 and 2020 it was even the best-selling car in Austria. With its current generation, customers can even get a taste of premium air, although Skoda is actually not very high in the ranking of VW Group brands. But the interior is of higher quality and more successful than the current representatives of the core brand. In this way, the Skoda Octavia breaks through the class boundaries without compromising the in-house values. Skoda is still comparatively cheap, and the proverbial simply clever equipment details from the ice scraper in the fuel filler cap to the umbrella hidden in the door panel are also retained. And there are always new ones. For the time being, the last coup in the success story is the Skoda Enyaq, including its coupé version, one of the best electric cars on the market. There can no longer be any talk of cheap entry-level models. From cheap brand to establishment. 30 years ago you probably wouldn’t have worn a jacket at Skoda.
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