Škoda Auto to expand Transmission plant and create 270 jobs

19 Apr. 2009 | CzechInvest | Škoda Auto investing CZK 1.5 billion in a new small-car transmission plant.

Škoda Auto of Mladá Boleslav will expand its production programme at the end of next year with a new type of transmission for Volkswagen-group cars. The company is investing over CZK 1.5 billion in the expansion and will create 270 new jobs.

“The new transmissions will initially be mounted in small family cars, and later in Škoda models and various models of other brands in the Volkswagen group,” explains Milan Staněk, manager of transmission production production at Škoda Auto, adding: “We are currently at maximum capacity in transmission production in Mladá Boleslav. We deliver roughly two thousand units daily.”

“Škoda Auto’s investment is even more significant in that the company announced it at a time when other firms are stagnating,” says Alexandra Rudyšarová, acting CEO of CzechInvest. “Škoda is creating jobs intended mainly for skilled workers with at least secondary-school education. Another positive aspect is that the company is not using space on a greenfield site for its expansion, but is rather renovating and remodelling an existing building, thanks to which it has received support from the state for its investment.”

Škoda Auto is among CzechInvest’s most frequent partners. Most recently with the agency’s support, the company opened a new technology centre on 16 December 2008. The centre, which cost CZK 1.159 billion, employs 300 newly hired developers, bringing the total number of designers at Škoda to 1,570.

“Production of transmissions for the Volkswagen group began in Mladá Boleslav almost exactly ten years ago. The new model requires a fifth fewer parts and is thus very compact, which makes it an ideal transmission for small, ecological cars with lower exhaust emissions,” explains Milan Staněk.

Besides production of cars under its own brand, Škoda Auto currently supplies the Volkswagen group with low-volume three-cylinder 1.2 HTP 44 kW 6V and 1.2 HTP 51 kW 12V engines and MQ200 transmissions used in the Škoda Fabia and Roomster, Volkswagen Polo and Fox, and Seat Ibiza and Cordoba.

More Škoda Auto

The history of Škoda Auto dates back to 1905, when Václav Laurin and Václav Klement started production of Voiturette A automobiles in Mladá Boleslav. A century later, Škoda cars are sold in 101 countries around the world, with customers buying 674,530 in 2008, the most in the company’s history. With exports amounting to CZK 166 billion in 2008, the carmaker accounted for 6.7% of the Czech Republic’s total exports. Besides three factories in the Czech Republic, Škoda automobiles are manufactured in India, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ukraine.