In the National Classic Research 2017 we look at the classic love of manufacturers and importers. Today: Skoda.
You can only be successful as a brand if you know where you come from and are proud of what you do. That realization seems to come to life at Skoda more and more. We recently received a press release listing all Skoda anniversaries from 2017. The most important of these is perhaps the 30th anniversary of the Favorit, the first modern Skoda. At the end of 2016 a British newspaper drove with it and headed: "Why can't all cars be as good as this?" It's a shame there are only 91 left in the Netherlands. Skoda is not really a classic brand in the Netherlands anyway: of the 171.784 Skodas in our country, only 297 are thirty years or older.
| Total | 171.784 |
| First authorization before 01-01-2002 | 10.258 |
| First authorization before 01-01-1987 | 297 |
However, that does not mean that there are no traditional Skodas in the Netherlands at all. The oldest, an 422, even comes from 1930. It's not even the only one of that type, because there are three in all.
The Skoda's are almost as extinct as we knew them just before the Favorit came on the market, with the rear engine. There are still 66 copies of the 105 and only 46 of the 120.
You will not often come across the coupe, the Rapid; there are still 51.
We do not know if there is a connection, but there are many more of the models released since the brand is part of Volkswagen. Of course they are newer models, but the brand has become more and more popular since the German takeover.
| Fabia <2002 | 5.885 |
| Felicia <2002 | 1.467 |
| Octavia <2002 | 2.496 |
To be honest, we have to say that we have included the classic versions of those models at the Felicia and Octavia. All in all, there are a few dozen. And especially because we said that Skoda is more popular nowadays: there are five of the Popular.
You can read more about the National Classic Research 2017 in Auto Motor Klassiek 2 from 2017 (on 20 January with subscribers, from 24 January in the store).
On Terschelling you can now visit an enormous German bunker position from WWII. Very interesting. A while ago, the volunteers also found a Skoda, which had been recovered by the Germans and disappeared without a trace. The car was completely in pieces, but was quite complete. The original owner was a Groningen dealer, who had since passed away, but his children remembered the car.