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ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab and Champion Motors meet in Prague to sign documents establishing a joint venture in Tel Aviv. Venture aimed at collaborating with high-tech start-ups and universities.

ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab and Israeli ŠKODA importer Champion Motors establish a joint venture in Tel Aviv, which will commence operations in January 2018. ŠKODA CEO Bernhard Maier, Champion Motors CEO Dan Orenstein, and Erez Vigodman and Dr. Ing. Yoram Turbowicz, Board Members of the Israeli joint venture partner, signed the documents for the foundation of the joint venture yesterday at the Rudolfinum in Prague's Old Town.

ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab will soon be represented in Tel Aviv thanks to the new joint venture. The city is considered one of the most dynamic IT start-up locations in the world. Two full-time local employees will be assigned the task of making connections with the main Israeli start-ups and concluding partnership agreements.

"Israel is a high profile source of digital innovation. Being present there and gaining direct access to innovative projects, high-tech start-ups and IT talent is very important to ŠKODA,” emphasizes ŠKODA AUTO CEO Bernhard Maier. "We firmly believe that we can use the local creative ecosystem and digital development expertise optimally for us. ŠKODA is currently focusing on areas including cyber security and big data."

"We are proud to strengthen our collaboration with ŠKODA AUTO and take it to the next level with the establishment of a Joint Venture in Israel," said Professor Itzhak Swary, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Champion Motors. "I am sure that our joint venture and the active presence of ŠKODA AUTO in the Israeli ecosystem will open new business opportunities for all sides – the Czech car manufacturer, Champion Motors and the local industry."

The aim of the partnership is to open continual exchanges with regional players on the IT scene as well as companies and universities. The focus is on collaborating with start-ups at a certain level of maturity. This will involve identifying innovative projects early on, and developing them into interesting business models for ŠKODA.

ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab is working on this closely with Champion Motors. The importer of ŠKODA vehicles and models from other Group brands, which has been operating successfully for many years, has expertise and experience in promoting emerging high-tech in partnership alongside its parent company, the Allied Group. Champion Motors and the Allied Group have excellent connections on the IT start-up scene as well as with local venture capital funds. The company itself has been investing in innovative start-ups for several years; these are now to be networked with ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab.

Holdings of the Allied Group are aimed at, for example, developers of digital security solutions and optical sensor technologies. Among other things, the Israeli importer and the traditional Czech brand are planning a joint innovation platform that promotes start-ups in the automotive and smart mobility sectors. The project receives support from the Israeli-Czech Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Israel is currently home to more than 6,000 start-ups, around 300 R&D facilities of multinational organisations and hundreds of high-tech companies. The booming high-tech industry is supported by an investment-friendly financial sector as well as dedicated incubators and accelerators.

The automotive sector is a key driver and user of this dynamic development. More than 500 start-ups and research groups in Israel are currently involved in automotive projects – six times more than in 2013.

ŠKODA models first appeared in Israel in the early 1990s and are now frequently seen on Israeli roads. Between January and November 2017, ŠKODA AUTO delivered more than 23,000 vehicles in Israel.

As part of its Strategy 2025, ŠKODA has defined digitization and the creation of digital mobility services as the cornerstones of future corporate development. ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab in Prague plays a key role here, which, among other things, aims to strengthen the innovative power and digital development expertise of the Czech carmaker. ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab aligns the entire company with the possibilities and requirements of digitization. Established as a responsive IT start-up, this ideas workshop explores and develops new business models, solutions and products. One of ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab’s core tasks is to collaborate with external innovators.

Article source: www.skoda-auto.com

Children suggest what gift they would give to Santa Claus and a fleet of four ŠKODA KAROQs transports the wishes to the Finnish town of Rovaniemi – the home of Santa Claus.

‘Celebrate Christmas another way’ – it was under this slogan that ŠKODA collected the best gift ideas for Santa Claus. Thousands of children came up with suggestions for ŠKODA AUTO’s extraordinary Christmas campaign. A fleet of four ŠKODA KAROQs picked up the wishes from several European countries and drove them to the Christmas Village near Rovaniemi in Finland.

He is constantly on the road during the coming holidays, bringing joy to people around the world, yet Santa Claus himself does not receive a single gift for Christmas. This year, ŠKODA prepared a special surprise for him: Before he could load the sled and put the harness on the reindeer, he was visited by four ŠKODA KAROQs in his Christmas village near the Arctic Circle. The four compact SUVs brought the wish lists of many thousands of children from six European countries. However, the wish lists were not for what the children wanted themselves, but rather what they would give to Santa. The gift ideas included, for example, a holiday in the Caribbean, automatic air conditioning for sleigh rides in hotter countries, and a new ŠKODA as a transport vehicle with even more room for gifts.

With the wish lists in their luggage, the ŠKODA KAROQs – one from the Moldovan capital of Chişinău and the other from Berlin – embarked on their Arctic tour. They met in Warsaw and continued their tour north. The route took the compact SUVs to the North Cape, the northernmost point of Europe. Then, the KAROQ caravan dropped off the wish lists in the Christmas Village near Rovaniemi near the Arctic Circle. In total, the four KAROQ covered a distance of 23,400 kilometres.

In addition, ŠKODA took nine families on the trip of a lifetime. The winners of the exciting Lapland tour were drawn from everyone who had submitted a wish list. In Rovaniemi and the surrounding area, they went on a reindeer safari, saw a show put on by the elves and visited the Lapland ice gallery with its unique snow castle. The highlight was a visit to the Christmas Village where they got to meet Santa Claus in person.

An entertaining video shows the highlights of the journey through the Winter Wonderland. It is now available at ŠKODA Storyboard and can be downloaded.

ŠKODA wishes you a Merry Christmas!

Article source: www.skoda-auto.com

ŠKODA SUPERB wins best import car in the executive car segment and new ŠKODA KAROQ is the best SUV costing less than 25,000 euros in the import car category.

The readers and online users of the ‘Auto Zeitung’ have chosen ŠKODA as the best import brand. It is already the eighth time that the long-established Czech brand has won the coveted ‘Auto Trophy’ award. The ŠKODA OCTAVIA also ranks among the serial winners: the compact car has been named best import car in the compact car segment for the third time in a row. A further ‘Auto Trophy’ has been awarded to the ŠKODA SUPERB as the best import car in the executive car segment. Straight away, the readers of ‘Auto Zeitung’ have voted the ŠKODA KAROQ the best SUV costing less than 25,000 euros in the import car category.

ŠKODA has long been popular with the readers and online users of ‘Auto Zeitung’. In this year’s ‘Auto Trophy’ poll, they once again chose the Czech manufacturer as the best import brand – for the fifth time in a row – with 14.2% of the vote. Overall, it is the brand’s eighth triumph in the coveted manufacturers’ rankings.

Another serial winner at the ‘Auto Trophy’ awards is the ŠKODA OCTAVIA. This year, the brand’s bestseller triumphed with 17.7% of votes cast in the category for ‘The Best Compact Car – Import’, thereby completing a hattrick of titles following previous wins in 2015 and 2016. This is the whopping sixth time that the ŠKODA OCTAVIA has taken the prestigious honour at the ‘Auto Trophy’ awards.

To date, the ŠKODA SUPERB has also registered this number of successes at the ‘Auto Trophy’ awards. The brand’s flagship model won the title of the best imported executive car with 24.7% of the vote in this year’s poll.

The new compact SUV, the ŠKODA KAROQ, has joined the list of ŠKODA successes fresh from its market launch. With 19.1% of the vote, the latest addition to the ŠKODA model family triumphed over the competition in the category of imported SUVs costing less than 25,000 euros. In typical ŠKODA style, the KAROQ scored points for its emotive design, state-of-the-art connectivity, offering generous amount of space, high level of comfort and practical ‘Simply Clever’ features.

This year marked the 30th occurrence of Auto Zeitung’s readers’ poll. Since 2014, the ‘Auto Trophy’ awards have carried the addition ‘World’s Best Cars’ due to the fact that readers and online users of 15 international automotive publications from the publishing company Bauer Media Group can also take part in the vote. In the 2017 poll, a total of 41,190 participants registered their vote. In the German speaking areas, they chose their favourites in 20 categories, while eight ratings were put to an international vote. The four categories in which ŠKODA was successful were voted for in Germany.

Article source: www.skoda-auto.com

ŠKODA 1100 OHC is a major milestone in ŠKODA’s 116-year involvement in motorsport. One of only two surviving examples is one of the exhibition highlights at the ŠKODA Museum in Mladá Boleslav.

ŠKODA built the first example of the sports prototype ŠKODA 1100 OHC 60 years ago. The open-top two-seat racing car with the internal type designation 968 demonstrated a number of ground-breaking technical innovations. ŠKODA initially produced two open-top vehicles intended for long-distance races. In 1959, two coupés were built on this basis. One of the red open-top racers is among the highlights of the ŠKODA Museum in Mladá Boleslav.

"The ŠKODA 1100 OHC is a prime example of Czech engineering and construction," says Andrea Frydlová, Director of the ŠKODA Museum. “The car is one of the milestones in ŠKODA's 116-year involvement in motorsport."

ŠKODA began developing the two-seater in the spring of 1956. The ŠKODA 1100 OHC is powered by a longitudinally front-mounted inline four-cylinder with two camshafts in the cylinder head. With a displacement of 1089 cc, it has an output of 92 hp at 7700 rpm; the maximum engine speed is 8500/min. An output of 85 hp was spectacular at the time. As fuel, ŠKODA used high-octane aviation fuel.

With a wheelbase of 2,200 millimetres, a total length of 3,880 millimetres, a width of 1,430 millimetres and standing only 964 millimetres tall, the racing car is exceptionally flat and stretched. Thanks to its very lightweight body made of glass fibre reinforced plastic (GRP), the open-top ŠKODA 1100 OHC weighs just 550 kilograms. This extremely lightweight design contributes significantly to its tremendous acceleration and top speed of 190 to 200 km/h, depending on the axle ratio. Just as important is the low air resistance of the body. In the early stages of development, the racing car still had retractable folding headlights, but these soon had to give way to a more practical solution: fixed headlights with aerodynamic covers made of Plexiglas.

Unlike the predecessor models ŠKODA SPORT and SUPERSPORT, which were based on the robust chassis of the production model ŠKODA 1101, the 1100 OHC is a prototype. The structural basis is a latticed tube frame welded from thin-walled tubes. The car owes its excellent handling characteristics to its near-perfect weight distribution: with a 75-kilogram driver, the ratio is 49.7 to 50.3 percent in favour of the driven rear axle. The clutch, the five-speed gearbox and the transfer case are located at the back and form a single assembly unit. At the front, the wheels were mounted on a trapezoidal wishbone axle; at the rear, on a pendulum axle with trailing arms. The torsion bar suspension of the 15-inch spoked wheels were state-of-the-art technology in the late 1950s.

The sports car’s first appearance resulted in its first win. The experienced factory driver Miroslav Fousek won a race on the municipal circuit in Mladá Boleslav at the wheel of the ŠKODA 1100 OHC at the end of June 1958. In addition to victories at local sporting events, other drivers achieved success in other countries. Due to the difficult political situation in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the racing cars from Mladá Boleslav were limited to competing in socialist countries.

In addition to the two open-top vehicles with GRP body built at the end of 1957, ŠKODA also produced two 1100 OHC Coupés in 1959 with a closed aluminium body. Even with this version, the engineers were able to achieve a very low total weight of only 618 kilograms while maintaining the outstanding performance of the open-top version.

Both of the coupés were badly damaged in accidents on public roads. Restorers at the ŠKODA Museum are currently working intensively on renovating a ŠKODA 1100 OHC Coupé based on the preserved chassis and the drivetrain of one of the vehicles.

One of the ŠKODA 1100 OHC is owned by the British importer ŠKODA UK, which mainly uses it at events in the United Kingdom. The other racing car usually stands in the ŠKODA Museum at the brand’s headquarters in the Bohemian town of Mladá Boleslav – unless it is participating in national and international vintage car events.

Article source: www.skoda-auto.com

In October, the Czech car manufacturer delivered 107,400 vehicles to customers worldwide (October 2016: 97,900 vehicles; +9.7%).

ŠKODA saw growth in Europe (+11.3%), Russia (+23.8%) and India (+7.7%) in particular. The brand expects further impetus for growth from the new ŠKODA KAROQ. The initial market launches for the new compact SUV took place at the end of October and 1,400 KAROQs have already been delivered to customers. The large SUV, the ŠKODA KODIAQ, has already recorded 74,100 deliveries since its market launch in February 2017.

“We are pleased that we were able to continue the positive trend of the last few months in October too,” said Alain Favey, ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Sales and Marketing. “Our growth in Europe and Russia as well as the success of our new SUVs, the ŠKODA KODIAQ and the ŠKODA KAROQ, give us cause to be optimistic for the coming months,” added Favey.

In Western Europe, ŠKODA achieved 38,300 deliveries in October, which means an increase of 8.0% compared to October 2016 (35,400 vehicles). In Germany, the strongest individual European market, deliveries increased to 14,700 vehicles – 10.7% more than in October 2016 (13,300 vehicles). ŠKODA recorded double-digit growth in Denmark (1,400 vehicles; +26.7%), Finland (900 vehicles; +13.4%), France (2,600 vehicles; +18.0%), Italy (2,200 vehicles; +26.1%), the Netherlands (1,700 vehicles; +17.2%), Austria (2,000 vehicles; +14.0%) and Norway (700 vehicles; +11.0%).In Central Europe, deliveries increased by 15.0% to 18,200 vehicles (October 2016: 15,800 vehicles). In its home country, the Czech Republic, ŠKODA increased deliveries to 8,400 vehicles, an increase of 11.5% compared to October 2016 (7,600 vehicles). In Poland (6,100 vehicles; +25.5%) and Hungary (1,000 vehicles; +21.4%), ŠKODA achieved double-digit growth rates.

In Eastern Europe excluding Russia, deliveries increased by 11.7% to 3,700 vehicles (October 2016: 3,300 vehicles). ŠKODA was also able to grow considerably in Romania (1,100 vehicles; +28.8%), Bulgaria (300 vehicles; +28.6%) and Ukraine (500 vehicles; +22.5%).

In Russia, deliveries increased by 23.8% to 5,700 vehicles (October 2016: 4,600 vehicles).

In Israel, ŠKODA AUTO recorded strong growth of 70.7% compared to the same month last year, having delivered 1,700 vehicles (October 2016: 1,000 vehicles).

In China, ŠKODA’s largest individual market, the manufacturer achieved 33,000 deliveries in the past month (October 2016: 32,000 vehicles; +3.2%).

In India, the manufacturer recorded an increase in deliveries of 7.7%, meaning deliveries increased to 1,600 vehicles (October 2016: 1,500 vehicles).

Deliveries by the ŠKODA brand to customers in October 2017 (in units, rounded, by model; +/- in % compared to October 2016):
ŠKODA CITIGO (only sold in Europe: 3,200; -11.5%)
ŠKODA FABIA (17,000; -1.7%)
ŠKODA RAPID (18,300; -4.6%)
ŠKODA OCTAVIA (37,100; -3.0%)
ŠKODA SUPERB (12,800; +4.5%)
ŠKODA KAROQ (1,400; -)
ŠKODA KODIAQ (12,500; -)
ŠKODA YETI (5,100; -29.4%)

Article source: www.skoda-auto.com

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