Mladá Boleslav is much more to the ŠKODA automobile company than just the site of its largest production plant.
It was in this very Czech town that Messrs Laurin and Klement constructed their first automobile in 1905, and the company’s entire production was made there up to the 1940s when part of the production was transferred to the plants in Kvasiny and Vrchlabí. Not only are automobiles produced there, Mladá Boleslav is also a place where new models are created, and where the sketches of designers are gradually developed into the form of functional prototypes and later into massed-produced models.
The production program at the Mladá Boleslav plant now consists of the Fabia and Octavia models, while the local engine plant even supplies modern supercharged 1,2 TSI engines to the entire Volkswagen Group.
Most ŠKODA employees work in Mladá Boleslav, and they currently number almost 20,000 people. As well as the production plant, the town is also home to the company management, the Development and Design Department and the company’s education facilities (the secondary school and the university located at the Na Karmeli education centre). Visitors and fans of the ŠKODA brand can also visit the company museum in Mladá Boleslav.