Product description
The one and a quarter century of the Mladá Boleslav car factory is a history of ups and downs, successes and losses. Right from the beginning, the company almost had trouble when it the first motorcycle in 1899 brought fame in the press, but a slump in business. Interest at home was minimal. If it weren't for the tenacious Václav Klement, who negotiated an order for 150 machines in London without knowing a word of English, the L&K company might have stayed with the bikes. But it can't be said that it would have gone by itself from that moment on.
A small detail that makes a big difference – the company has changed its name nine times to date. The first time in 1907, when both owners decided to take action it, thereby gaining finances, but losing unlimited decision-making power. If it were not for the bet on motor plows and the licensed production of aircraft engines after World War I, they could have closed the factory. When it in 1925 they saved it by selling it to the Pilsen concern Škoda, they themselves accepted the role of extras. And what if in the year of the most severe economic crisis the car company had not come up with the progressive Popular and remained in third place among domestic manufacturers? This model and its modernization ensured it the post-war production of people's passenger cars. Let's leave aside 40 years of socialist labor, of which a quarter century of production of cars with an engine in the back, an example of the incompetence of the communist-led economy.
Fortunately, the creativity of designers and technicians could not be stifled. Proof of this is, among other things, the Škoda 720 project from the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, which was almost brought to fruition. And what about the Škoda Favorit! It saved the car manufacturer from falling into history. But be careful, it was not to be won. In the dramatic year of 1990, when the national economy began to be privatized, two concepts stood in opposition to each other. The first was promoted by the then Federal Minister of Finance of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic/Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Václav Klaus, namely, everything into coupon privatization. The second was demanded by the Ministers of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering of the Czech Republic, Miroslav Grégr, the Minister of Industry of the Czech Republic, Jan Vrba, and several others. They selected sixty key domestic companies for which they were looking for a foreign strategic partner. Due to the time pressure, the plan was successful in only a few cases. The Mladá Boleslav car manufacturer was among them. Then it was the Volkswagen Group's turn. There is no need to comment on how it turned out. Škoda Auto has become the pride of the domestic economy, unlike companies ruined by coupons such as Liaz, Avia, Jawa, ČZ, Eska, Favorit, Desta and countless others.
In the following pages, we would like to recall several stories from the rich history of the car company, which was started by bookseller Václav Klement and locksmith Václav Laurin. Thank you, gentlemen.
