Skoda Roomster Production Returns to Original Plant

VIENNA – Skoda Auto, the Volkswagen Group’s Czech subsidiary, launches production of the Skoda Roomster multipurpose vehicle at its plant in Kvasiny, Czech Republic.

The Roomster is not a new model. It was built at Kvasiny between 2006 and 2010.

In 2010, the auto maker decided to shift manufacturing of the vehicle from the Kvasiny facility to its plant in Vrchlabí, Czech Republic, to utilize capacity and retain employment levels there.

Skoda says it invested about €7.2 million ($9.8 million) in the transfer back from Vrchlabi to Kvasiny.

The auto maker sold about 38,000 Roomster vehicles last year, up 5.4% from 2011. About 292,000 of the MPVs have been delivered since production launched in 2006.

The last Roomster assembled in Vrchlabi in December means the end of car assembly at the smallest of Skoda’s three Czech Republic plants.

The facility in Vrchlabi originally was established by the coachbuilder Petera a synovéin 1864. The Petera coach-building company completed its first automobile coachwork there in 1908. Between 1946 and 1954, and since 1958, the plant has belonged to Skoda. In recent years, the site only was an assembly facility without its own press and paint shop.

However, Skoda is not closing the factory. Volume production of DQ200 7-speed direct-shift transmissions in Vrchlabi began in October. The current daily capacity for 1,000 dual-clutch gearboxes will increase to 1,500 units in mid-2013.

Skoda produces cars at two facilities in Czech Republic. It builds Skoda Fabia hatchbacks and wagons, Skoda Rapid and SEAT Toledo liftbacks and the new Octavia sedan at its main plant in Mlada Boleslav. The wagon version of the new Octavia will be added soon.

The Kvasiny plant’s portfolio includes the Roomster, Yeti compact cross/utility vehicle and Skoda’s flagship Superb model as a sedan and wagon.

Skoda produced 656,306 cars in Czech Republic last year, down 2.5% from 2011. This figure includes assembly kits for factories in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and India, but not the Slovak-made Skoda Citigo minicar, the Rapid, manufactured in India, or Skoda models built in China.