ŠKODA celebrates production success together with Shanghai Volkswagen. ŠKODA doubles model range in China from three to six models – new Rapid Xin Rui, ŠKODA Yeti and Superb Combi expand ŠKODA’s portfolio. Sales in China to rise to half a million per year. Shanghai Volkswagen plant had today produced its one millionth ŠKODA car since 2007, a white 1.6 l ŠKODA Rapid. In the years ahead, ŠKODA intends to grow further in its strongest sales market, expanding its model range produced in the country from a current three to then six models by mid-2014. “Making one million cars in China within just six years is evidence of our brand’s impressive growth,” says ŠKODA CEO Winfried Vahland. Working closely and trustfully with its partner Shanghai Volkswagen, SVW for short, ŠKODA has written an unparalleled success story in China since mid-2007. “We are definitely going for more growth in China, reinforcing our model offensive and expanding our capacities. We intend to raise our sales in China to half a million cars per year,” says Vahland. In 2012, China accounted for about a quarter of ŠKODA’s worldwide sales of 939,200. Since the beginning of its activities in China, ŠKODA has relied on cooperation with Shanghai Volkswagen. “SVW is a dependable and competent partner with whom we will continue to write ŠKODA’s success story in China in the years to come,” says Vahland. Forming the basis for ŠKODA’s growth plans in China is an expansion of the brand’s model range available in the country. This year alone, this range will be growing from three to six models. Currently, ŠKODA sells the Fabia, Octavia and the Superb saloon in China, which are now being complemented by three new models: the ŠKODA Rapid Xin Rui, the ŠKODA Yeti and the ŠKODA Superb Combi. A keystone of the brand’s growth in China is the new ŠKODA Rapid for China. This notchback saloon, sold as the ŠKODA Rapid Xin Rui, belongs to a vehicle category that is especially popular in China. ŠKODA has tailored the Chinese Rapid to the needs of Chinese customers, adding chrome elements and offering a total of nine option packages. “The Rapid is the perfect car for China,” says Werner Eichhorn, ŠKODA board member for sales and marketing. The car impresses with lots of space, an expressive design, an optimum price/value ratio, high functionality, comprehensive safety equipment and efficient engines. Also fuelling growth in China will be the ŠKODA Superb Combi and the ŠKODA Yeti, which have been available in the country as imports since April. The ŠKODA Superb Combi is ŠKODA’s first offering of an upper-middle class estate car. The ŠKODA Yeti is ŠKODA’s entry into China’s rapidly growing compact-SUV segment and will be made locally. In the first six months of 2013, ŠKODA sold about 120,200 cars in China, continuing the brand’s six-year success story in the country. The start of production of the ŠKODA Octavia June 2007 marked the beginning of one of the most impressive developments in recent automobile history, as ŠKODA went on to grow its annual sales to customers in China more than eightfold to around 236,000 most recently. Source: skoda-auto