At the largest tuning event featuring vehicles of the Volkswagen Group, SKODA AUTO will show exciting concept cars. At an exhibition area of more than 600 m², the concept cars “SKODA Citigo Rally” and “SKODA Citigo DJ Car” will make their first appearance. In the evening, an international top DJ will perform on the center stage of the SKODA concert area. Tomorrow, seven teams will already set out from Prague with SKODA vehicles and head toward Lake Worthersee in Austria.

The village of Reifnitz is a traditional meeting place for tuning fans. Every year in May, one may experience the pure excitement about automobiles, this year being the 31st time the meeting is held. This meeting is counted among the largest and most important events of its kind. As the third largest brand of the Volkswagen Group, SKODA presents new model highlights to fans as well. For the concert highlight in the evening, SKODA has created a special surprise. The music produced by the almost 100,000 Watt strong sound equipment will be mixed by a DJ in a “SKODA DJ Car”. This vehicle was especially designed by the SKODA design team for the car show at Worthersee. A team of journalists and Czech celebrities in special SKODA models will drive from Prague to the foothills of the Austrian Alps – among them the two Skoda rally champions Jan Kopecky and Juho Hanninen.

“They say the driver’s seat has the best view of Worthersee,” says Jan Kopecky, SKODA Motorsport factory driver. “That’s why I’m excited to be able to experience in person the legendary atmosphere at Worthersee this year.”

The creations based on the new SKODA Citigo are sure to fascinate attendees at SKODA’s stand in Reifnitz. The design of the “SKODA Citigo Rally” takes its dynamics from SKODA rally cars. Its front end impresses with a massive bumper as well as a generous air intake and spoiler. The car’s rear end is marked by a centrally positioned exhaust end pipe and the down-force wing extending the car’s roofline. Low-profile tires on forged 18-inch rims promise stability and uncompromising traction.

Besides the “SKODA Citigo Rally”, another highlight is the appearance of the “SKODA Citigo DJ Car”. Its rear end widens behind the ‘B’ pillars to create an open stage for the DJ inside the car. The “SKODA Citigo DJ Car” will see live action when DJs put on dance music for several thousands of fans on the center stage at night.

The drive from Prague to Lake Worthersee is not about a fast highway trip down to Austria: Instead, participants such as the SKODA rally stars as well as Czech celebrities will have to perform various tasks during the course of the trip. SKODA Fans will be able to follow their results as well as the progress of the trip on the official SKODA Facebook page

- Skoda

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Victory on ice and snow: the Volkswagen factory team successfully concluded the test outing in the Rally Sweden, round two of the FIA World Rally Championship 2012, and collected valuable experience for the future rallies with the Polo R WRC. Sébastien Ogier and his co-driver Julien Ingrassia (F/F) took class victory with their Skoda Fabia, their team mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Floene (N/N) clinched third place. With more than 200,000 spectators looking on they regularly left more powerful WRC cars trailing in their wake on the way to eleventh and 14th in the overall standings.

“The Rally Sweden is one of the real highlights of the World Championship season since it is only here that spiked tires are used on snow and ice throughout the entire event. The character is unique and it was equally important for our team to collect experience in order to be as well prepared as possible next year with the Polo R WRC,” explained Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. “Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen effectively controlled the Super 2000 class and were not only fast in the process, but also drove very reliably and within their limits – our two Fabias ran without problems, so many thanks to our team also for the excellent work.”

The Rally Sweden, which consisted of over 350 kilometers run against the clock on 24 special stages in the Swedish province Varmlands Lan and in neighboring Norway, provided spectators with rallying in its most spectacular form. The high speeds, long drifts and big jumps on the icy tracks set the hearts racing of the many rally fans lining the stages. Compact special stages close to the service park in Hagfors and head-to-head duels around the floodlit horse racing course in the start and finish area in Karlstad also inspired the spectators. The two Fabias of group brand Skoda fielded by Volkswagen Motorsport numbered among the crowd’s favorites from the very beginning. Sébastien Ogier took the S2000 class lead on the opening stage. With eight top-ten results and much to the enjoyment of the many fans he repeatedly moved into the leading group of the more powerful WRC. “That was a very good rally for us. I’m very happy with our class win. The conditions on the stages were better than expected and it was great fun to drive here. Our pace was very good and because our team mates were also very fast the rally was interesting and informative for the entire team. After all is said and done and it was also the first rally on snow and ice with spiked tires for our team,” said the 28-year old Frenchman. Not even a puncture on the twelfth stage or changing the fuel filter after the 18th stage could slow Ogier/Ingrassia.

The 22-year old current Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) Champion Andreas Mikkelsen enjoyed the stages through his homeland Norway on Friday was able to match his team mate’s pace throughout, before losing valuable time and a near certain second position in the class after suffering a puncture on the 22nd special stage. “My second rally with Volkswagen was a very, very good experience – it was obviously a great shame to lose second place within sight of the finish. Our first event together last year was the first WRC rally for the team. It was great to see just how much the team has developed since then. The teamwork is fabulous,” said the Skoda UK driver who, together with co-driver Ola Floene, contests selected rounds of the WRC for Volkswagen this year and otherwise aims to defend his IRC title. “When compared with the IRC events you must change your approach a little in the WRC. The rallies are longer, but at the same time you have fewer opportunities during the service breaks. You can’t drive so uncompromisingly, but want to be just as fast.”

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The SKODA Motorsport team will continue the Fabia Super 2000 project also in the upcoming year 2012. This year the project has led to the greatest achievements in the brand’s long history of motorsport efforts. The participation in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge championship with the Fabia Super 2000 where SKODA has won the titles in both the Drivers and Manufacturers categories for two consecutive years remains the brand’s top priority.

Furthermore, one of the factory crews will newly appear in selected rallies of the European Championship and the factory team will also appear in the home rally championship. Juho Hanninen and Jan Kopecky remain the brand’s factory drivers for 2012. The first event in 2012 to see the factory team in action is the Janner Rally that is taking place in Austria over the first weekend of January.

Commenting on the team’s agenda in 2012, Head of the SKODA Motorsport team Michal Hrabanek says: “SKODA’s top priority will be to defend the IRC titles we have won in the last two years. Three drivers in factory-prepared Fabia Super 2000s are going to fight for points in the Manufacturers category – Jan Kopecky and Juho Hanninen of SKODA Motorsport (factory team) and Andreas Mikkelsen of SKODA UK Motorsport. With future prospects in mind, we want to gain experience in selected events of the European Championship where we will be represented by Juho Hanninen & Mikko Markkula, one of our factory crews. Intending to become even more visible in the home market, the other factory crew, Jan Kopecky & Pavel Dresler, will appear on Czech tracks as part of the Czech Championship. Pavel Dressler has replaced Petr Stary who, unfortunately, has a long-standing health problem – in this connection, the whole team wishes Petr a fast recovery.”

2011 SWRC Champion Juho Hanninen: “I have learned a lot at SKODA Motorsport over the last three years, and these have been more than good times for the entire team. I believe that we will be successful also next year that holds some new rallies for us, but that is exactly what makes this sport so exciting. I am pretty certain that we are going to make another step ahead with the Fabia.”

Three times IRC Vice-Champion Jan Kopecky: “I appreciate the opportunity to continue cooperating with SKODA Motorsport. Our ambition in the Czech championship is of course to keep appearing on the top ranks and the goal in the selected IRC events is to always win as many points as possible in order to help SKODA win the third title in the Manufacturers category. I want to say a big thank you to Petr Stary for great three years that we have spent together and wish him a fast recovery.”

The Mlada Boleslav-based car manufacturer is celebrating 110 years of its motorsport efforts this year and 2011, quite symbolically, has been the most successful year in this long and unique history – SKODA has comfortably repeated its last year’s victory in the Manufacturers category of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge championship, Fabia Super 2000 drivers have won the first three places in the Drivers category of the IRC (Mikkelsen 1st, Kopecky 2nd, Hanninen 3rd) and Juho Hanninen & Mikko Markkula have won the first-ever SWRC title for SKODA. At the end of this year, SKODA Motorsport and its Fabia Super 2000s made their debut in the Race of Champions, a prestigious multi-discipline event with a history of over 20 years.

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SKODA wants to reduce the CO2 emissions from the thermal power plant SkoEnergo by one quarter until the year 2015. The reduction is to be achieved primarily through the utilization of biomass. In 2015, about one third of the total power generated shall come from renewable energies. The power plant of the SKODA subsidiary SkoEnergo was put into operation in 2000. It produces power for the vehicle production at the headquarters of the manufacturer and serves as the thermal power plant for the city of Mlada Boleslav.

• Emissions from the Mlada Boleslav power plant to be lowered by 130,000 metric tons of CO2 per year by 2015
• An important contribution within the framework of the sustainability strategy of the manufacturer
• One third of the power to be generated from biomass

The annual power generation by SkoEnergo amounts to 420,000 MWh. Even today, 50,000 MWh of that amount is already generated through the incineration of biomass. Until the year 2015, the amount of power generated from biomass should increase to 140,000 MWh. One third of the generated power should then be provided by renewable sources.

Michael Oeljeklaus, the SKODA board member for production and logistics as well as the chairman of the supervisory board of SkoEnergo, underlines the important contribution of this measure toward the sustainability strategy of the car manufacturer: “In order to evaluate the environmental friendliness of a vehicle, one must take its entire lifecycle into consideration. In doing so, an environmentally friendly production is of extraordinary importance. We have already achieved significant improvements with the construction of the power plant in 2000. Now, SkoEnergo wants to take another giant step in the next four years and reduce CO2 emissions by a total of 25 percent until 2015. This is a central measure within the framework of our sustainability policy and shows how determined SKODA pushes its efforts in environmental protection,” said Oeljeklaus.

Miroslav Zdansky, the commercial manager of SkoEnergo, adds: “Our company is steadily reducing CO2 emissions. Biomass has already been used since the year 2005 and to date has proven to be very effective. The savings amount to about 50,000 metric tons of CO2 per year compared to the traditional energy generation through the incineration of coal and gas. With the measures being implemented until 2015, we can increase the annual savings up to 130,000 metric tons of CO2.”

Whereas classic coal-fired power plants release 750,000 metric tons of CO2 into the air in the production of the same amount of energy, SkoEnergo’s modern facility was able to reduce CO2 emissions to 520,000 metric tons. Until 2015, emissions are to decrease to 390,000 metric tons.

- Skoda

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In the first seven months of the year, the SKODA brand has delivered 523,200 vehicles worldwide (January – July 2010: 437,300 vehicles). Thus, the Czech automobile manufacturer was able to increase its sales 19.7 percent in comparison to the previous year and for the first time ever delivered more than 500,000 vehicles by July. At the same time, SKODA achieved a new record for the month of July with 68,500 sold units (last year: 58,500).

• SKODA delivers more than 523,200 units in the first seven months
• Worldwide, sales increased 19.7 percent
• The strongest July in the company’s history with 68,500 vehicles

In its Czech home, SKODA grew better than the overall market, recording an increase of 9.6 percent. Overall, 4,400 vehicles were delivered to customers there.

The brand also recorded a clear plus in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe in July: In the Ukraine, sales rose 54.8 percent. Slovenia grew 9.3 percent, Poland 3.7 percent, and Croatia 4.0 percent.

“SKODA remains in the fast lane,” explained the SKODA board member for sales and marketing, Jurgen Stackmann. “Growth regions such as China, India, or even Russia developed brilliantly in July thanks to two-digit growth rates for the SKODA brand. And we are also continuously recording high sales numbers with our attractive model range in the established markets of Western and Eastern Europe.”

Sales figures in Western Europe also developed positively. With a plus of 24.0 percent, the Czech automobile manufacturer reached a sales volume of 27,200 units there. In this context, high rates of increase were reported by the Netherlands with a plus of 53.2 percent and Austria with a plus of 36.8 percent. On the German market, SKODA was able to increase its market share as the most popular import brand. In Belgium, sales rose 23.8 percent, in France it was 22.6 percent, and in Switzerland 13.2 percent.

The markets in China, India, and Russia grew at high speed. In China, SKODA deliveries increased 15.4 percent to 17,800 units in July. In Russia, SKODA achieved the third best monthly result with 6,100 deliveries and a plus of 22.7 percent. In India, SKODA has outpaced last year’s sales by 70.1 percent with 2,300 units sold to date. In doing so, about two thirds of Indian customers decided on the Fabia.

In other markets outside of Europe, SKODA reported good results as well. In Australia, the brand reached the second-best monthly sales record in July.

Deliveries to customers in July 2011 (SKODA models compared to July 2010):

• Octavia (29,400 vehicles / plus 22.7 percent)
• Fabia (21,000 vehicles / plus 18.8 percent)
• Superb (8,800 vehicles / plus 15.1 percent)
• Yeti (5,300 vehicles / plus 32.5 percent)
• Roomster (2,900 vehicles / plus 19.2 percent)

- Skoda

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