From Monte Carlo wins to student-designed concept cars, Skoda has always had a knack for pushing limits.
Below, we highlight the most important, influential and our favourite cars from 130 years in the business.
Motorsport machines
Laurin & Klement CCR 1905
It wasn’t an official world championship, but in the early 1900s the International Motorcycle Cup in Dourdan, France, was the biggest event of the year.
Laurin & Klement motorcycles had competed from 1901 onwards, and in 1905 Václav Vondrich scored the nascent firm’s first significant success riding a CCR.
Skoda Rapid Six 1935
Laurin & Klement switched to four-wheeled competition with the Voiturette A in 1906 and notched up successes in various Czech events in the following years.
But the 1925 merger with Skoda Works provided the extra financial clout to invest in a racing programme, leading to the Skoda Rapid Six that scored third overall and a class win in the 1935 1000 Miles of Czechoslovakia, an open road endurance race modelled on the Mille Miglia.
Skoda Popular Sport 1936
This popular machine started Skoda’s long-running reputation for producing compact rally cars that could take class wins and humble more powerful competition. Crewed by Zdenek Pohl and Jaroslav Hausman, a Popular Sport took second in the sub-1500cc class and 20th overall on Skoda’s first time at the Monte Carlo Rally.
Skoda Octavia Sport 1961
The Octavia was launched in 1959, with a Touring Sports version, using a twin-carb engine taken from a Felicia convertible, following a year later.
In 1961 Esko Keinänen and Rainer Eklund scored a class win and finished an incredible sixth overall on the Monte Carlo Rally. Skoda’s ambitions in this era went beyond rallying: the 1101 competed in a string of sports car races in the 1950s, including in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Skoda F3 1964
Skoda is best known for its success on the rally stages, but it has dabbled in single-seater competition. This machine, the F3, was used in Formula 3 and Formula Junior in 1964. It was powered by a water-cooled 1.0-litre four-cylinder engine that initially offered 76bhp.