Å koda Auto Produces the Millionth Fabia

Press Release

The millionth Fabia model range car came down the production line in a Škoda Auto plant in Mladá Boleslav today (8th April 2004) at 10.00 a.m. The jubilee car - a silver Fabia RS manufactured to direct order - was taken over personally by a customer of Great Britain during the ceremonial act. The Škoda Fabia has won several significant awards since its launch on the market: It received the prestigious "Golden Wheel" award in November 1999, and reached the final of the all-European "Car of the Year 2000" contest. It became the best car not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Denmark, Great Britain, Croatia, Slovakia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. Its prestigious awards include third place overall in the Auto 1 competition in 2000 organized by the group of magazines Auto Europe; the Fabia became the winner of Auto 1 national polls in the Czech Republic, and Austria. The German specialist magazine Autoflotte bestowed the "Most Efficient Car" title to the Škoda Fabia. In Great Britain, the Fabia won acknowledgement as the safest car in its class (the magazine Which?) and three "Best Supermini" titles in What Car? polls in consecutive years 2000, 2001 and 2002. The Fabia's safety was also acknowledged by a crash test carried out by the independent association EuroNCAP giving four stars to the car equipped with just one airbag. Vratislav Kulhánek, the Chairman of the Škoda Auto, a.s., management, said on this occasion: "I am pleased to see that our millionth Fabia has been made for a customer from Great Britain; not only because this country belongs to our largest markets. Great Britain is an example of a country where transformation of the Škoda brand has fully become evident - whereas prior to 1991, we were a much-derided brand in England, nowadays Škoda cars are fully respected by customers on this demanding market and successfully compared with products made by the world's best-known and most important car makers." One of the most successful Škoda cars in the company's history, the Fabia model, made its debut at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt (IAA) on 14th September 1999. The Fabia Estate model followed at the International Motor Show in Paris a year later. The manufacturer introduced the Fabia Sedan car-body version at the Geneva International Motor Show in February 2001. Karl-Günter Büsching, Škoda Auto corporate director responsible for production and logistics, informed the journalists and guests present: "The Fabia has had a firm position within our manufacturing programme for more than four years. It has used its high quality and soundness to ultimately convince its customers that the Škoda brand belongs to the Volkswagen Group family justifiably. Even the start of its production in September 1999 was convincing, and the first 100,000 Fabias were assembled during eleven months after the start of series production launch. We consider this success to be a standard for all the next starts so far as well as for the manufacture of the new-generation Octavia, for example, which is now being started." The jubilee Škoda Fabia RS car is powered by a 96-kW diesel engine combined with a manual six-speed gearbox. The car's equipment includes xenon headlamps, lateral and front airbags, Electronic Stability Programme (ESP), special bucket seats, and a number of optical interior and car-body elements. Out of the total number of a million Fabia cars produced, there have been approximately 622,000 hatchbacks, 300,000 estate versions, and 76,000 sedans. Apart from that, more than 2,000 Fabia Praktik utility cars have been manufactured. The Fabia model family's share in the Škoda Auto company's total output amounts to almost 60%. In addition to the Škoda Auto parent plan in Mladá Boleslav, the Fabia cars are assembled in the Eurocar plant in Solomonovo, Ukraine, and in Sarajevo, Bosnia.