[rahul_intlad]

Volkswagen's executives used to consider Skoda cars so dangerous they refused to drive them.Skoda executives heeded the criticism and returned months later with a better-engineered car. It was the first step in Skoda's decade-long transformation from an object of Communist-era derision into VW's most profitable unit after the Audi brand.

"Skoda used to be seen as a poor car at best and at worst the butt of many cruel jokes," but "This baby has come a long way."

Skoda's reputation for quality and reasonable prices are luring buyers like Mihael Stanic, a logistics company worker from Nersingen, Germany, who traded his Golf for a Fabia compact."At Skoda, you get better service, the electronics are much better," said Stanic, 23. "At Volkswagen, you pay for the brand."

Source+Read complete article:
Skoda, a joke no more, joins Audi in driving Volkswagen profit - International Herald Tribune

[GTO]

VW took over Skoda in 1991, and in only 16 years....they have achieved a helluva lot! From a trashed reputation, Skoda is resurgent with quality cars today. That they share so much with VW is probably an advantage.

Its commendable how they have matched value with quality. Heres a long but interesting article that you might want to read.

[rahul_intlad]

From the above article using the link provided by GTO,

With almost the entire country as the target audience (having been identified as "Skoda rejectors"), advertising -- primarily through TV -- became the driving force behind the image-changing campaign, with Skoda pumping about 75% of its media spend into it.

"If you really want to change people's ideas about a brand quickly, you have to do it through TV," Hawken says.

Never knew TV could be such an effetive advertising medium.

[1Day]

but whats the point, most skodas are rebadged VWs anyways, i mean the fabia and the other skoda superb etc are all VWs jeta and passat, so it really doesnt do much for me, if they created a product that differentiated itself in style(underlying could be similar) then its ok otherwise anyone can rebadge and make a product look good...

[Boom Shiva]

I agree with 1 Day. Skoda's just using VW parts and technology etc.

While that's great for the end consumer because they get a good product at a lower price, I don't think it's any big achievement on the part of the company, except of course, the marketing division.

[rahul_intlad]

Skoda are top manufacturer in Top Gear survey


Skoda has swept the board in the Top Gear annual owner satisfaction survey, with three models taking top ten positions.
The Octavia, Fabia and Superb were all placed in the top ten, making Skoda the top-rated manufacturer in the survey.
The previous-generation Octavia took third place, and was described by Top Gear as “a masterpiece of dependability”, beating the “charming” Fabia into fourth, with the Superb taking seventh place.

“It´s a stunning achievement by the Czech manufacturer to break the Japanese monopoly at the top of the table - particularly to overhaul the domination of Lexus



Source:
Skoda are top manufacturer in Top Gear survey
+
Skoda News | Skoda is top of the Top Gear pops

[deepakhon]

Originally Posted by 1Day

if they created a product that differentiated itself in style(underlying could be similar) then its ok otherwise anyone can rebadge and make a product look good...

Skoda has now started to do that. Roomster is one such example. Ofcourse, they have taken bits from Fabia and Octavia, but this is one product that is not there in the VW lineup. Skoda should now look into producing a totally new product