Skoda Car Factory Tour
Our private guide will pick you up from your hotel in Prague and together you will drive to Mlada Boleslav where the Skoda Car Factory is located. It takes approximately 40 minutes to get there. Once you arrive, our private guide will show you the Skoda Car Museum where you will learn about the history of the brand and see unique old models from throughout the history of Skoda. Afterwards you will take a tour of the Skoda Car Factory. The factory is on the technological edge of the car industry. You will see modern robots working on the assembly line, then skilled workers putting the finer details on the car. Everything runs very smoothly, just what you would expect from one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world.
History of Skoda
The history of the company dates back to 1895 when Václav Laurin and Václav Klement founded the Laurin & Klement bicycle company. An interesting story led to the foundation of the company. Václav Klement, a Czech bookkeeper from Mladá Boleslav, bought a bicycle from a local German company (at the time the Czech lands were part of the Austro-Hungarian empire). The bicycle broke down and Mr. Klement sent a complaint letter in Czech to the company, demanding a refund. The company replied to him in German language, stating that they do not understand the language in which he writes and that he should write it in German. Mr. Klement was a patriot and the company’s arrogant reply made him furious. He decided to go to have a beer in a local pub to calm down. There he met Mr. Laurin, a local engineer, and after a few beers they decided to start a bicycle company together. Laurin & Klement produced fine bicycles and in 1905 they produced their first car. After WWI they expanded rapidly and in 1925 the company was merged with Skoda Industries, a huge company from Pilsen that was involved in various industrial endeavours. During WWII Skoda was seized by the Nazis and incorporated into Reichswerke Hermann Goring which manufactured military vehicles for the Wehrmacht. After the war the Skoda Industries was confiscated by the communist government. In 1992, 3 years after the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, the car branch of Skoda Industries was purchased by Volkswagen. With the introduction of new Western technologies the Skoda cars could compete against the Western brands. Today Skoda sells more than 1 million cars each year and is one of the most successful car companies in the world. Join us on the private tour to Skoda Factory and learn more about this fascinating company!
