Škoda

Škoda is a brand with a history radically different from that of other Eastern Bloc car marques. Škoda Works was founded in 1859 in Pizeň, Czechoslovakia as an ammunition and weapons manufacturer; in the 1890s the company began manufacturing bicycles (much like Daimler-Benz).

After World War II, the Škoda factory was rebuilt, along with the rest of war-torn Europe, and began to manufacture cars in earnest. Many Škodas were exported to the Western Europe, India, and Asia, and the cars maintained a relatively good reputation until the 1960s, when rapid advances in Western technology rendered Škoda quite dated. The brand limped along until 1991, when communism collapsed, and 1993, when the Velvet Divorce split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both events rendered the formerly state-owned Skoda subject to privatization, and the brand was acquired by Volkswagen.

Today Škoda Auto is a fully owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, and is known for its luxury sedans. Modern Skodas are quite luxurious and are nothing like the Škodas made under communism. This wiki will focus exclusively on the models manufactured from 1949 and 1991.