The Skoda Octavia Has Been With Us For 25 Years And Established Skoda In the Mid Segment

1996 saw the Skoda Octavia going into production in Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic. This was Skoda’s new entrant into the competitive mid segment, essentially competing against the Golf from parent company VW. Little did they know, or expect, that the Czech brand would steal customers with what turned out to be for many, a better car.

The Launch on the 3rd of September 1996 saw Skoda introduce a new model, albeit with an old name, bringing safety, comfort and efficiency, things which, unfairly, were not associated with the brand for some time. This was to set a new standard for Skoda and enabled the company to launch many different Octavia models over its lifespan. Importantly it was the model to revive the RS line after quite some time.

In the first 14 years there were 971,490 saloons and 470,636 estates produced which are pretty sizable numbers, but it was quite a long time to keep a model in production. It was still selling well, the combination of space and good value meant that it remained for double the length of time a typical model lasts.

ŠKODA started to develop the Octavia as early as 1992, only a year after VW had taken a stake in the company and it became part of the group. The advantage of this was the ability to use the new group platform PQ34, shared across the equivalent segment cars in VW, Audi and SEAT. However, this was the first vehicle to use the new architecture, the Golf came later.

Under the direction of Belgian design leader Dirk van Braeckel a team designed the body for the first time using CAD (Computer Aided Design). There was a high amount of passive safety included with front and side airbags to accompany the anti-lock brakes. The new car passed all crash tests well which had a new side impact scenario.

The one feature that really sold the car to people was its practicality and space. The wide opening tailgate revealed a large boot, with a volume of 528 to 1,328 litres.

Production began on the 3rd of September 1996 which coincided with the launch of a new production line and paint shop. The result increased capacity by 90,000 to 350,000 vehicles overall. This made ŠKODA AUTO the largest industrial company in the Czech Republic.

The first cars offered two choices of petrol engine and one diesel. The 75 hp 1.6 MPI was available in the entry level model, the 1.8 litre with the five valve head produced 125 hp and the 90 hp 1.9 TDI, which was to become a firm favourite across the VAG family. The pulling power of this unit was formidable, even at low engine speeds. The economy was very good too, being 5.1 litres per 100 km, or if you prefer, 55 mpg.

ŠKODA continued to expand the range of engines and brought the turbocharged 1.8 with 150 hp along with the 1.9 SDI diesel with only 68 hp. The Octavia was the first ever ŠKODA to be available with an automatic transmission.

In March 1998 the second body style followed in the form of the Combi, or estate. By the year 2001 the combi represented 40.4 per cent of overall Octavia sales. this was due to the luggage capacity of 548 litre with the seats up and 1,512 with the folded flat. The Combi was the first ŠKODA to have four wheel drive, which filtered down into the World Rally Car which was based on the Octavia.

A facelift appeared for the year 2000 and the car now had an electronic stability program, ESP. There was a new top of the range model, the Laurin & Klement, referencing the original company founders. But importantly only one year later ŠKODA reintroduced the RS line with 180 hp.

The Octavia was such a sales success that ŠKODA built a new assembly line in the Vrchlabí plant in to meet demand. Even though the Octavia was replaced in 2004 with a new model, the original remained in production known as the Octavia Tour. The last one rolled off the production line as late as November 2010, marking the end of a fourteen year run.

The third generation was launched in November 2012 and lasted seven years until the fourth generation came along and was the first ŠKODA to feature hybrid technology.

Over all the generations there have been more than seven million Octavia’s produced.