F&I Management & Training

Skoda Auto Russia announced it has begun full-cycle production of the new Skoda Fabia at the Russian launch of the car on April 28 at its Kaluga factory. The Skoda Fabia has become the second model in the Skoda range to be produced in full-cycle at the factory, which includes welding, painting and assembly. The previous Fabia model was built at Kaluga factory by SKD. The first model to change to a CKD-production was the Skoda Octavia.

Fabia is a best-selling model of Skoda's range in the Russian and global markets. In 2009, 264,173 Fabias were sold globally; an increase of 7.1 per cent on the previous year. The Fabia was Russia's best seller in 2009.

"Over the past few years, Skoda has been very successful and record sales were once again achieved in 2009. A main contributing factor for this market growth is the continued development in areas such as Russia, India and China. With our investments in Kaluga production, dealer network and products we will continue to strengthen our position in the Russian market," said Reinhard Jung, head of Skoda Auto board of directors.

Petr Janeba, Head of Skoda Russia added: "Russia is one of the key markets for Skoda and we expect to see sustained future growth. One of our primary objectives is to increase our production capacities and we are already achieving success in this as all Skoda models are produced at the Russian factory in Kaluga; providing attractive price-quality ratio to our clients, faster reaction to the local market changes and to our Russian customers' requirements. In October 2009, we started full-cycle production of the Skoda Octavia and today we are ready to announce the start of the second model production by CKD.

"The Skoda Fabia is such a popular vehicle in the Russian market and we happy to say that it is now the second all-Russian car of our brand. We are pleased to showcase it for the first time at our factory!"