ŠKODA delivers one million vehicles in 2020 despite pandemic

Mladá Boleslav, 12 January 2021 - Given the considerable strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this figure illustrates the effectiveness of the countermeasures taken. 

Globally, ŠKODA AUTO delivered 1,004,800 vehicles to customers worldwide in 2020 despite major challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the ongoing challenging conditions, the Czech car manufacturer delivered 578,100 vehicles worldwide from July to December (first half of 2020: 426,700 vehicles). In addition, ŠKODA AUTO confirmed its successful course in numerous markets over the past 12 months: 24,200 vehicles were sold in Turkey (+56.3%) and 5,500 vehicles in Egypt (+52.8%). In Europe, the car manufacturer also increased its market share to 5.4 %. In Russia, a new record was set with 94,600 vehicles delivered (+6.8%).

In the UK, ŠKODA increased its market share to a record 3.6% (3.2% in 2019). In an overall new car market that fell by -29.4%, ŠKODA UK registered 58,693 cars in 2020 (75,053 in 2019).

ŠKODA AUTO CEO Thomas Schäfer explains: “Delivering over one million vehicles worldwide is a great success for ŠKODA AUTO, especially against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting five-week production shutdown during the first wave in spring. I would like to thank the sales team, importers and dealers for this joint effort. An equally big thank you to our colleagues from production, quality management and all other ŠKODA colleagues. The entire team has shown stamina, resilience and real passion in these challenging times. We can now look ahead with confidence: ŠKODA has many new products in the pipeline, and I have high expectations for them. Nevertheless, we remain vigilant, and we are keeping a close eye on further developments in the markets.”

ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Sales and Marketing Alain Favey adds: “Thanks to a great team performance, we managed to continue our course successfully last year, even under the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic. I would like to sincerely thank all the employees at our dealerships for their outstanding commitment, flexibility and customer service. It is thanks to their tremendous dedication that we have been able to achieve this success. At the same time, the past twelve months have been a touchstone in every respect, clearly showing that our strategy is working, our programmes are efficient, and our modern model range is in demand among customers.

Therefore, I am cautiously optimistic for the coming months, even though, due to the current pandemic, it is not possible to make a reliable statement on the further market development at this point.”