2017 best year in Škoda Auto’s history, says CEO
The year 2017 was the most successful so far in Mladá Boleslav-based carmaker Škoda Auto’s history, CEO Bernhard Maier has confirmed for news site iDnes. According to the company head, the number of cars produced in 2017 was 6.6 percent higher than a year earlier, for a total of 1,200,500 vehicles manufactured.
The increase in profits was roughly six billion crowns higher. The company made 31.8 billion crowns after tax.
In 2016, the company posted operating profits of 40.5 billion crowns while overall revenues amounted to 407 billion crowns. The average profit margin per vehicle produced last year amounted to 36,000 crowns.
The company’s continuing success is regarded by company officials as the fruit of a successful SUV strategy: in short, iDnes reported, the company was making more on more expensive models. Mr Maier expressed regret, even, that Škoda hadn’t pursued its SUV plans sooner: the Kodiaq was introduced two years ago and the smaller Karoq last year.
The carmaker reportedly also has big plans ahead: over the next two years, it will reportedly introduce 19 new models. In 2020, it will introduce a car with the working title of Vision E, which was unveiled in China last year. Škoda’s concept car is the first purely electric vehicle in Škoda’s history.
