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The importance of the legendary Monte Carlo Rally and the challenges of this motorsport event are reflected in the date it is traditionally held in the WRC calendar; in January, the prestigious ‘Monte’ would attract wealthy car fans to the Principality of Monaco, even outside the summer season. Participants could opt for one of the many starting points across Europe, and the number of points awarded depended on how demanding their chosen route was. Additional points were then awarded in Monte Carlo, where the teams initially competed in various disciplines that were later abolished. These included being judged on elegance and comfort and the technical condition of the vehicles after the Riviera stretch. In addition, the drivers would have to demonstrate their skills in a manoeuvre test.

In 1912, at only the second run of the Monte Carlo Rally, a vehicle from Mladá Boleslav was also among the field of competitors. At temperatures as low as -18 degrees, Alexander ‘Count Sascha’ Kolowrat-Krakowsky set off from Vienna on the 1,319-kilometre route to the Principality on 21 January 1912. The Laurin & Klement had an open body and so instead of a racing overall, Count Kolowrat-Krakowsky wore thick fur.

The ŠKODA POPULAR Sport roadster (1936) and the ŠKODA RAPID coupé (1937)
Cars from Mladá Boleslav have borne the ŠKODA emblem since 1925, and they soon drove to their first successes at the Monte Carlo Rally; in January 1936, the duo Zdeněk Pohl/Ing. Jaroslav Hausman took an excellent second place in the up to 1,500 cm³ class with the ŠKODA POPULAR Sport roadster. This result inspired the company to expand its model range to include the ŠKODA POPULAR MONTE CARLO, which the manufacturer offered as a roadster and a coupé. Just seventy of these beautiful vehicles were built between 1936 and 1939.

One year later, now 85 years ago, Pohl and Hausman decided that they would not start the 1937 rally in Athens, which was ‘only’ 3,852 kilometres away from Monaco, as they had done the previous year. Instead, they would depart from Palermo in Sicily, 4,134 kilometres away, earning them 500 points. Only four of the original 30 vehicles survived the rigours of this demanding route. With their ŠKODA RAPID coupé, powered by a reliable SV four-cylinder engine with a displacement of 1.4 litres, they successfully passed the checkpoints. However, the duo from Mladá Boleslav ended up in fourth place overall instead of second because of two penalty points. These were deducted by the commissioners after their English rivals protested about the rear-view mirror being too small. The mirror’s outer dimensions were in line with the regulations, but the reflective surface without the frame was much smaller. Pohl and Hausman could have swapped the mirror for a larger one before the official inspection, but this would have gone against their spirit of fair play. Upon returning to Prague, the management of the car manufacturer at the time also publicly acknowledged this sportsmanship.

ŠKODA – King of the ‘Thirteen Hundreds’: OCTAVIA & 130 RS & FAVORIT
Political and economic developments after the Second World War meant that the car manufacturer was cut off from many of its traditional markets and prestigious sporting events due to the ‘Iron Curtain’. As a result, only private teams could compete in the Monte Carlo Rally from 1949 onwards, and the works team did not return to Monte Carlo until January 1956. And so, the foreign owners of ŠKODA vehicles seized the opportunity; the best results in the wintry conditions were achieved by teams from Scandinavia – their successes included a hat-trick in the up to 1,300 cm³ class with the ŠKODA OCTAVIA TOURING SPORT. At the 1961 MCR, the Finns Esko Keinänen/Rainer Eklund won and at the same time took a magnificent sixth place overall. They dominated the ‘Thirteen Hundred’ class in 1962, as well. In January 1963, the Norwegians Edward Gjolberg and Carl Karlan followed up on these successes with the OCTAVIA TS 1200.

In subsequent years, the Monte Carlo Rally became increasingly geared towards professionals with fewer and fewer private drivers taking part. In 1973, the traditional January event then became the opening race of the newly announced World Rally Championship. ŠKODA vehicles with a traditional drive concept and central tube frame were followed by models with rear-mounted engines and self-supporting bodywork. The successes of two ŠKODA 130 RS coupés stand out, in particular. In 1977, when only 43 of 198 vehicles reached the finish line at the ‘Monte’, ŠKODA dominated the up to 1,300 cm³ category; the winning duo Václav Blahna/Lubislav Hlávka were followed by their works team colleagues Milan Zapadlo and Jiří Motal in second place. In the overall standings, they finished 12th and 15th respectively.

The front-engine era: from the FAVORIT to the FABIA R5 Rally2 evo
60 years ago, the sporty derivatives of the ŠKODA OCTAVIA family model dominated the ‘Thirteen Hundreds’ at the Monte Carlo Rally, and 30 years ago, the ŠKODA FAVORIT 136 L hatchback model continued the rally successes. The four-cylinder aluminium engine above the driven front axle had a displacement of 1,289 cm³ and took the duo Pavel Sibera/Petr Gross to numerous victories in Class A (under 1,300 cm³). From 1991 to 1994, they clinched four victories in a row. The FAVORIT was an outstanding vehicle in its time, evidenced by its fourth place in the 1993 ‘Monte’ against much more powerful vehicles in the class up to 2,000 cm³ with one driven axle.

ŠKODA then introduced the FELICIA Kit Car. At the 1999 Monte Carlo Rally, a new era began with the OCTAVIA WRC entering the top category for vehicles with four-wheel drive. The works driver team Armin Schwarz/Manfred Hiemer took an excellent 4th place in the overall standings with it in 2001.

The shorter and significantly lighter FABIA WRC was homologated in 2003. The turbocharged four-cylinder engine delivered an output of 221 kW (300 hp) and a torque of 600 Nm from a two-litre displacement. A hydraulically operated handbrake assisted in cornering; it braked the rear wheels, while simultaneously disengaging the intermediate axle differential of the all-wheel drive. The ŠKODA FABIA SUPER 2000 represented a further step in its evolution in 2009 when it finished fourth in this run of the Monte Carlo Rally, which was on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) calendar at the time. In 2010 and 2011, the SUPER 2000 finished in second place before taking victory in 2013. In January 2011, the special FABIA MONTE CARLO model was presented in Monaco – a tribute to the Monte Carlo Rally’s centennial and, at the same time, the 110th anniversary of the Mladá Boleslav-based carmaker’s involvement in motorsport.

After a series of successes in the WRC2 category, largely achieved by private teams, the new FABIA R5 opened another hugely successful chapter for the ŠKODA FABIA; the factory team took first and second place in the 2017 MCR. The following year, Jan Kopecký/Pavel Dresler won the RC2 class in addition to the WRC2 category. At the Monte Carlo Rally 2022, the Toksport WRT team, supported by ŠKODA Motorsport, has its sights set on victory; Norwegian Andereas Mikkelsen aims to defend his victory last year in the FABIA Rally2 evo alongside Torstein Eriksen (NOR).

Article source: www.skoda-storyboard.com

Euro NCAP regularly compiles a list of the vehicles that have achieved the top result in their class in the crash safety reference tests performed during the previous year. For 2021, these “Best in class Cars” include two ŠKODA models: the ŠKODA ENYAQ iV in the SUV class and the ŠKODA FABIA in the compact car class. This makes ŠKODA the only manufacturer to have two class winners in 2021. The ENYAQ iV and the FABIA are the thirteenth and fourteenth new ŠKODA models in direct succession to have received the top rating of five stars since 2008. In 2014, the third-generation FABIA had also been declared best in its class. As the Euro NCAP test requirements become tougher each year, the best-in-class comparison is made only within the years 2020 and 2021 so that all vehicles are assessed against the same standards.

The ŠKODA ENYAQ iV received the maximum rating of five stars and an overall score of 86 per cent of all possible points in the 2021 Euro NCAP test. The first ŠKODA vehicle to be based on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB modular electric car platform achieved outstanding results in the comprehensive crash and safety tests of the European New Car Assessment Programme, particularly in terms of occupant protection. With 94 per cent of available points for Adult Occupant Protection and 89 per cent for Child Occupant Protection, the ŠKODA SUV set a new record in the Euro NCAP tests, which were once again made more stringent, compared to 2020. Since then this percentage has only been exceeded once, by a premium class vehicle.

In its Euro NCAP test, the new ŠKODA FABIA benefited from a further increase in safety due to the switch to the Volkswagen Group’s MQB-A0 Modular Transverse Matrix, which now enables the use of seven modern assistance systems, among other improvements. The successful model’s fourth generation scored 78 per cent of the maximum available points and, like the ENYAQ iV, excelled particularly in the area of occupant protection, with 85 per cent of the possible points for Adult Occupant Protection and 81 per cent of the maximum points for Child Occupant Protection.

The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) is a scheme founded in 1997 by transport ministries, automobile clubs, insurance associations and research institutes from eight European countries. The consortium is based in the Belgian city of Leuven. It conducts crash tests on current vehicle models and evaluates their active and passive safety as well as their rescue and recovery safety. In recent years, the tests have continuously been made more stringent and now include various collision scenarios. While initially only the results of crash tests were evaluated, the ratings of active safety systems, as well as driver assistance systems, now have a greater weighting in the overall evaluation.

Article source: www.skoda-storyboard.com

“2021 was one of the most challenging years in ŠKODA AUTO’s history. The COVID-19 pandemic and the shortage of semiconductors have significantly slowed down our growth. Thanks to the flexibility and resourcefulness of the ŠKODA team, as well as the close cooperation with our social partner KOVO and suppliers, we managed to steer the company through the year successfully and deliver a respectable result. We expect the semiconductor supply situation to gradually ease in the second half of the year. I am looking ahead with confidence; we have many new products in the pipeline, including the ENYAQ COUPÉ iV, we are experiencing very high customer demand, and we have a highly motivated team. Over the long term, the company is in an excellent position to emerge stronger from the transformation process thanks to our NEXT LEVEL – ŠKODA STRATEGY 2030.”

Thomas Schäfer, ŠKODA AUTO CEO

“The COVID-19 pandemic and the semiconductor shortage led to extended delivery times last year. I would like to express my gratitude to our customers for their trust in the ŠKODA brand and our dealers for their tremendous dedication in these challenging times. Our products are very well received worldwide, and demand continues to grow thanks to models such as the ENYAQ iV and the new FABIA. We are now picking up the pace as we enter the new year: The revised versions of our best-selling SUVs, the KODIAQ and KAROQ, as well as the new ENYAQ COUPÉ iV are great products, and I am convinced they will prove very popular with our customers.”

Martin Jahn, ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Sales and Marketing

In Western Europe, ŠKODA AUTO delivered 409,000 vehicles in 2021, a decrease of 5.9% compared to the previous year (January to December 2020: 434,500 vehicles). In December, deliveries amounted to 34,200 vehicles (December 2020: 41,700 vehicles).
In Germany, its largest single market worldwide, the carmaker recorded 136,800 deliveries last year, down 15.4% year-on-year (January to December 2020: 161,800 vehicles). In December, deliveries totalled 14,700, down 11.5% on the previous year (December 2020:16,600 vehicles).
ŠKODA AUTO achieved double-digit growth in Portugal (1,800 vehicles; +37.4%), Norway (9,800 vehicles; +36.9%), Ireland (9,100 vehicles; +21.8%), the Netherlands (19,300 vehicles; +19.0%) and Spain (24,600 vehicles; +17.0%).

In Central Europe, ŠKODA AUTO delivered a total of 164,100 vehicles from January to December 2021, 9.8% fewer than in the previous year (January to December 2020: 181,900 vehicles). In December, the brand recorded 12,200 deliveries, a decrease of 16.5% compared to the same month of 2020 (December 2020: 14,600 vehicles).
In the Czech Republic – ŠKODA AUTO’s domestic market – deliveries from January to December 2021 dropped by 4.0% to 79,900 vehicles (January to December 2020: 83,200 vehicles). In December, the carmaker delivered 6,700 vehicles in this market (December 2020: 7,100 vehicles; -5.0%).

In Eastern Europe excluding Russia, ŠKODA AUTO delivered 35,800 vehicles to customers (January to December 2020: 39,400 vehicles; -9.2%). In December, deliveries fell by 39.9% to 2,500 vehicles (December 2020: 4,200 vehicles).

In Russia, 90,400 deliveries represents a decrease of 4.4% compared to 2020 (January to December 2020: 94,600 vehicles). ŠKODA AUTO delivered 7,200 vehicles in December (December 2020: 9,700 vehicles; -25.7%).

In China, the Czech car manufacturer delivered 71,200 vehicles in 2021. This corresponds to
a 58.8% drop (January to December 2020: 173,000 vehicles). In December, ŠKODA recorded 7,500 deliveries in this region (December 2020: 16,500 vehicles; -54.6%).

In India, ŠKODA AUTO achieved significant growth in 2021 following the launch of the KUSHAQ, which was developed specifically for this market, recording a total of 22,800 vehicles deliveries in the region (January to December 2020: 10,900 vehicles; +108.9%). In December 2021, deliveries stood at 3,500 vehicles (December 2020: 1,400 vehicles; +156.2%).

The manufacturer can also report encouraging growth in the rest of the world: from January to December 2021, ŠKODA AUTO increased its vehicle deliveries by 20.6% to 85,000 units (January to December 2020: 70,500 vehicles).

“At ŠKODA AUTO, we use 3D printing to manufacture components and tools faster, more efficiently and more cost-effectively and make targeted use of technologies from Industry 4.0. This is how we are implementing our FORCE programme for the Future Factory and pushing ahead with digitalising our production sites. I am delighted that our project has been recognised as one of the five most innovative approaches in the area of Industry 4.0 in the Czech Republic.”

Michael Oeljeklaus, ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Production and Logistics

The benefits of 3D printing across the business
ŠKODA AUTO uses 3D printing, for example, in prototype production in its Pilot Hall. Plastic 3D printing is used, in particular, in the maintenance departments in vehicle production. The carmaker also employs the technology in Central Technical Service, for the production of tools and spare parts and for the testing of new materials. Furthermore, the technology is used for the production of one-off items and small series.

High degree of flexibility: adaptable parts and reduced lead times
Currently, there are fifty 3D printers in ŠKODA AUTO’s Production and Logistics division, enabling the carmaker to apply the additive process. These are linked by a dedicated network for a working group responsible for plastic 3D printing. The largest 3D print farm, a group of ten units, is located in the body shop at the carmaker’s main plant in Mladá Boleslav. The technology makes it possible to flexibly produce the necessary tools or to carry out repairs at short notice. This means the lead time for the tools and spare parts required is significantly shorter and there is no need to keep any stock. The printed parts are added to a database, allowing them to be reproduced or adapted at any time.

Versatile technology
In early April 2020, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic showed just how versatile 3D printing technology could be: in Technical Development, the carmaker’s own Academy and in Production at the Mladá Boleslav and Kvasiny sites, ŠKODA AUTO manufactured 1,400 protective shields for its own workforce as well as staff of various aid organisations within just two months.

Digitalisation is an integral part of the company’s NEXT LEVEL – ŠKODA STRATEGY 2030
ŠKODA AUTO is fully exploiting the use of Industry 4.0 technologies and, in this context, the possibilities 3D printing has to offer. The consistent further digitalisation of internal procedures and processes across the entire company is one of the cornerstones of the
NEXT LEVEL – ŠKODA STRATEGY 2030.

Article source: www.skoda-storyboard.com