Skoda Auto Ltd, was founded by Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement in 1895 as Laurin & Klement in the Czech Republic, which began selling bicycles. The company was even credited by the British press in 1900 for having created the first ever motorcycle. The company waiting until 1905 until it started producing cars, which means Skoda is the second oldest automaker in the Czech Republic, the number one spot belonging to Tatra.
Post World War I, Laurin & Klement was producing trucks, but they hit trouble in the form of a factory fire so they searched in hope of a new partner. The new partner came in the form of Skoda Works, an arms manufacturer which wanted to expand its non-arms production, and they eventually bought up the Czhech company in 1925.
In the 80's and 90's, Skoda had a bad reputation in Britain for being unreliable, unfashionable, and generally a very “uncool” car to be seen in. However, following the company becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Group in the year 2000, it began a lengthy rebranding process, with the aim of losing it's poor reputation.
It worked, and models such as the Skoda Fabia, the Skoda Superb and the Skoda Octavia proved very popular, and since the company's takeover by Volkswagen, sales figures have consistently increased each year despite the global economic crash.