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There's a very good chance that you saw an Octavia on the last journey you took. In fact, there's a very good chance that there's one parked somewhere on your street. The car has been one of the biggest automotive success stories of the last two decades, and is largely responsible for the complete image overhaul that Skoda has performed. There's a good reason for this, as the Octavia has proven to be a highly capable competitor in its class.
The initial design work began in 1992 after the previous year's tie-up with the Volkswagen Group, and CAD (Computer Aided Design) was extensively used. Based on a modular platform, safety was exemplary for the time and the boot space afforded by the hatchback design was a big positive point. Skoda built a completely new section at its Mladá Boleslav facility to handle Octavia production, and cars would also be made at factories in China, India, Russia and Kazakhstan.
The Combi estate variant proved very popular, accounting for a third of the near-1.5 million first-generation cars produced since September 1996. Petrol and diesel engines from the Volkswagen stable were offered, along with an all-wheel drive option on the Combi. Skoda dipped its toes in the performance market with the Octavia VRS model, considered by many to be superior to the contemporary Volkswagen Golf GTI with which it shared many parts. The Czech brand even competed in world championship rallying with the car, which proved to be a tough old bird on the rougher events, if lacking a little in ultimate pace.
The last of the first-gen model rolled off the line in late 2010, by which time the second iteration was well established. Between 2004 and 2013, 2.5 million cars were sold, nearly a million of which were the venerable estate version. The VRS again proved extremely popular, and practical performance was rarely so attainable. The car is currently in its third evolution, and since September 1996 over five million cars have found homes worldwide. The memories of the old Skoda jokes have been well and truly erased...