ŠKODA AUTO is celebrating a very special milestone in its hometown: The 15 millionth car from Mladá Boleslav since 1905 rolled off the production line at the brand’s main plant today. The milestone model is a ŠKODA ENYAQ iV in Arctic Silver Metallic. In 1905, mobility pioneers Václav Laurin and Václav Klement drove their first car, the Voiturette A, out of the factory hall at this location. ŠKODA AUTO is investing in the future of car manufacturing with ongoing modernisations at its headquarters.
Michael Oeljeklaus, ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Production and Logistics, explains: “On this special occasion, I would like to congratulate the entire workforce at the Mladá Boleslav site. Having produced 15 million vehicles, our main plant is a central pillar in the ŠKODA brand’s success; it has long been of great importance to the whole Volkswagen Group, as well, due to the production of components. The milestone car, an ENYAQ iV, epitomises our future path: we are continuously digitalising our production and consistently implementing our electromobility strategy. At the same time, we are exploiting the synergies within the Group to build state-of-the-art, attractive vehicles that inspire our customers around the world.”
Automotive production in Mladá Boleslav dates back to the company Laurin & Klement, which later became ŠKODA AUTO. In 1905, the founders Václav Laurin and Václav Klement decided to stop building bicycles and focus entirely on manufacturing motorbikes and automobiles. The historic factory halls from which the first automobile of the company, the Voiturette Type A, rolled out, still stand today; they have housed the ŠKODA Museum for several years.
On the other side of the road is the modern car plant, where around 29,100 employees currently produce six model series: the FABIA, SCALA, and OCTAVIA, as well as the SUVs KAMIQ, KAROQ and the all-electric ENYAQ iV. To manufacture the ENYAQ iV, the company converted an existing production line, adapting it for MEB vehicles. This means this is the only line in the entire Volkswagen Group that enables simultaneous production of models based on both the Modular Electrification Toolkit (MEB) and the Modular Transversal Toolkit (MQB). In addition to the OCTAVIA and the compact SUV KAROQ, the all-electric ENYAQ iV has been built here since the end of November 2020.
This innovation reflects ŠKODA AUTO’s continuous modernisation of its production sites. The focus is on Industry 4.0 practices, digitalisation projects and automation. Even before the joint production line for MQB and MEB models, for example, the manufacturer commissioned an ultramodern paint shop with a capacity of up to 168,000 bodies, creating more than 650 new jobs in the process. At the beginning of 2021, ŠKODA AUTO opened a new Central Pilot Hall at its corporate headquarters for work on pre-series vehicles. Shortly before that, the centre for building test carriers and prototypes went into operation.
In addition to vehicles, ŠKODA AUTO also produces engines, the MQ100 and MQ200 manual transmissions and axles in Mladá Boleslav, as well as high-voltage batteries for the plug-in hybrid models of several Group brands. In February 2021, the 100,000th traction battery left the site’s production line.
SOURCE: ŠKODA
