If you say ‘To je skoda‘ in Czech it means ‘That’s a shame‘ or ‘That’s too bad‘ or simply just imagine a sad face. The word ‘skoda‘ means ‘loss‘ or ‘harm‘ or ‘injury‘; but it is also the name of the biggest Czech car company which cranks out a new Skoda model almost every year. Why would someone name a car ‘Skoda’ or “Harm” is beyond my comprehension but it did not seem to slow down the business a bit.
Here is an interesting (and quite funny) piece of information which I found in Wikipedia:‘The origins of what became Škoda Auto go back to the early 1890s where, like many long-established car manufacturers, a company started out manufacturing bicycles. It was 1894, and 26-year old Václav Klement, who was a bookseller in Mladá Boleslav, in today’s Czech Republic, which was then part of Austria-Hungary, was unable to obtain spare parts to repair his German bicycle. Klement returned his bicycle to the manufacturers, Seidel and Naumann, with a letter, in Czech, asking them to carry out repairs, only to receive a reply, in German, stating: “If you would like an answer to your inquiry, you should try writing in a language we can understand”. A disgusted Klement, despite not having technical experience, decided to start a bicycle repair shop, which he and Václav Laurin opened in 1895 in Mladá Boleslav.’
Skoda recently came up with a new model called Skoda Superb II which to me looks simply exquisite (or should I say superb?). It made me think of what hideous cars they were when I was growing up during communism (see the third image below) and what a great leap in technology and in looks they have made since then. And this particular train of thought brought me to today’s post: let’s do some time-traveling and look at those cars from the very beginning.
PS: Take a careful look at the initial picture – the car (Skoda) is crocheted!!
CZ: Skoda nedavno predstavila svuj nejnovejsi model – Skoda Superb II. Vypada opravdu naramne, porad si nemuzu zvyknout na to, jak ty skodovky dneska hezky vypadaji! Mne se pod jmenem ‘skoda’ vzdycky vybavi ty komunisticke krachny 😉.
Podivejte se sami, jakou makroevouluci Skodovka za posledni stoleti prosla. A jeste jednu zajimavost pro vas mam: vite vubec, kdo a jak tuto firmu zalozil? Jeji krusne zacatky jsou opravdu neco (kliknete zde – link vas vezme na anlgickou wikipedii, protoze v anglictine je o zacatcich Skody vic informaci).
PS: Jeste jednou se mrknete na uvodni fotku – to auto (Skodovka) je totiz uhackovane!!!!
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That language putdown by the German manufacturer was probably thought of as ‘normal’ in the days of the Hapsburg Empire. German was the ‘official’ language of the empire and they saw the rest of us as ‘provincials.’ The Good Soldier Sveik put up with a lot of this, as did many of our ancestors. Speaking of ancestors, my Grandma Blaha’s maiden name was Kliment. I wonder if her family was related to the Skoda founder, Vaclav Klement?
Skoda’s success is not liked by VW company, they cannot get used to it, that Czechs are not Untermenschen any more. These Untermenschen created such a excellent car, that they VW decided to expand production….closer to customers who “deserve” such a shame “Skoda”……New assembly Skoda lines have been built in Ukraine, India, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, China and Russia…
Skoda in USA? Forget about it!! Who whould buy overpriced VW cars?? VW has not brought anything good to the Skoda company.
I wanted to say: If VW sold Skoda in USA, who would buy overpriced VW cars then? Whou knows, maybe some of those VW cars are relabeled Skoda cars?
HA HA HA HA ! Bezva!
I just realized my posts sounded like I’m a moron – guys I was just laughing at the crochet car picture. Hillarious!
MariKo, yeah, I was wondering what was ‘bezva’ ;))
No but seriously, who came up with that name (skoda) and why??? Was that meant to be as a joke at the beginning because people thought nothing big is going to come of these Skoda bicycles/cars anyway?
In my 1918 Czech-English dictionary Skoda also means “damage”. Skoda was originally an armament works producing arms for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Oddly enough, the company was founded by a man with the surname SKODA. “Damage” was appropriate for a maker of armaments. Austro-Hungarian naval vessels carried small Skoda guns. The larger guns were usually Krupp from Prussia.
FAVORITE SKODA JOKE from the Soviet Era: Why does a Skoda have a rear window de-froster? So you can keep your hands warm while you push it! My favorite Skoda automobile was a 1936 Skoda Supurb Limousine with coach work by Sodomka. The car was probably lost in WWII or confiscated by the Soviets. Ahoj!
V tom ma prsty rytir Skoda, ktery zaclenil Kliment&zLaurin autowerke do sveho
Konglomeratu.
Vlastimile, ale ted uz opravdu s pravdou ven…rytir Skoda?? ;)))
Mark, so did the gun company named Skoda shift gears and started making bikes and then cars? It really bugs me that wikipedia does not explain this…
PS: love your Skoda joke
Tom, I hate to to be disappointing you but there are soooo many Kliments and soooo many Klements in the Czech Republic….but hey, maybe you are right! It’s worth to take a closer look at your family ‘s birth certificates.
Škodovka si teď vede velmi dobře, láme rekordy v prodejech. Dokonce i Britové, kteří na ni vymysleli na začátku 90. let hodně vtipů, ji teď dávají v průzkumech na první místa jako nejoblíbenější auto.
Několik vtipů o škodovce:
Proč má favorit vyhřívání na zadním okně? Aby vás nezábly ruce, když ho tlačíte do servisu.
Jak zdvojnásobíte cenu škodovky? Dejte do ní jedno penny.
Jak zdvojnásobíte cenu škodovky? Naplňte nádrž!
Jak se nazývá škodovka v zimě? Mrazák!
Jak se nazývá favorit na kopci? Zázrak.
Jak nejrychleji předjedete škodovku? Utíkejte!
Co se stane, když škodovka srazí kočku? Kočka se cítí fajn. Škodovka je na odpis.
Když se dívám na to háčkované auto, vzpomněla jsem si na reklamu na Škodovku, kde je auto celé z cukrovinek:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwBE1l6QexU
a ještě jedna reklama, tentokrát drsnější:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nqLRb3gW4U
o tom tajemnem rytiri si prectete na http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_%C5%A0koda
Ten posledni mi bolel, ale na ten jsem se zasmala nejvic ;PP Vzdyt ta kocka byla preci v poradku. Hehehe
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Tohle je pro Tanyu ( z Wiki) chtela jsi vedet jak dostala Skoda sve jmeno…
The origins of what became Škoda Auto go back to the early 1890s where, like many long-established car manufacturers, a company started out manufacturing bicycles. It was 1894, and 26-year old Václav Klement, who was a bookseller in Mladá Boleslav, in today’s Czech Republic, which was then part of Austria-Hungary, was unable to obtain spare parts to repair his German bicycle.
Klement returned his bicycle to the manufacturers, Seidel and Naumann, with a letter, in Czech, asking them to carry out repairs, only to receive a reply, in German, stating: “If you would like an answer to your inquiry, you should try writing in a language we can understand”.
A disgusted Klement, despite not having technical experience, decided to start a bicycle repair shop, which he and Václav Laurin opened in 1895 in Mladá Boleslav.
Before going into business partnership with Klement, Laurin was established as a bicycle manufacturer in the nearby town of Turnov.
In 1898, after moving to their newly-built factory, the pair bought a Werner “motorcyclist”,[nb 1] which was produced by French manufacturer Werner Brothers.
Laurin & Klement’s first motorcyclette, powered by an engine mounted on the handlebars driving the front wheels, proved dangerous and unreliable—an early incident on it cost Laurin a front tooth. To design a safer machine with its structure around the engine, the pair wrote to German ignition specialist Robert Bosch for advice on a different electromagnetic system.
The pair’s new Slavia motorcycle made its debut in 1899.
In 1900, when the company had a workforce of 32, Slavia exports began, with 150 machines shipped to London for the Hewtson firm. Shortly afterwards, the press credited them as makers of the first motorcycle.[4] The first model, Voiturette A, was a success and the company was established both within Austria-Hungary and internationally. By 1905 the firm was manufacturing automobiles.
After World War I the Laurin-Klement company began producing trucks,
but in 1924, after running into problems and being hit by a fire, the company sought a partner,
and was acquired by Škoda Works, an arms manufacturer which had become a multi-sector concern
and the biggest industrial enterprise in Czechoslovakia. Most later production was under the Škoda name.
Skoda Works
The company was founded by the noble Waldstein family in 1859 and was bought by Emil Škoda in Plzeň during 1869. It soon established itself as Austria-Hungary’s leading arms manufacturer producing heavy guns for the navy, mountain guns or mortars along with the Škoda M1909 machine gun as one of its noted products. Besides producing arms for the Austro-Hungarian military, Škoda also manufactured locomotives, aircraft, ships, machine tools, steam turbines and equipment for power utilities and still do so to this day. In 1859, Count Wallenstein-Vartenberk set up a branch of his foundry and engineering works in Plzeň. The output of the plant, employing over a hundred workers, included machinery and equipment for sugar mills, breweries, mines, steam engines, boilers, iron bridge structures, and railway facilities. In 1869, the plant was taken over by Emil Škoda, an industrious engineer and dynamic entrepreneur. Škoda was quick to expand business, and in the 1880s founded what was then a very modern steelworks capable of delivering castings weighing dozens of tons. Steel castings and, later, forgings for larger passenger liners and warships went on to rank alongside the sugar mills as the top export branches of Škoda’s factory.
Vlastimile, ty mas pravdu! Rytir Skoda je praotcem auticek skodovek!! Ted jen zbyva otazka, jak jeho rodina ziskala takove prijmeni. Mozna proto, protoze porad rikali “to je skoda”??? Nebo byli Skodove hrozne nemotorni a neustale do neceho vrazeli a na neco slapali, proste delali vsude skodu??
MariKo – diky, presne nenhle clanek jsem v uvodu postu taky okopirovala, ale kdybych mela vic trpelivosti a precetla si ho cely (jako jsem to udelala, kdyz jsi ho zanechala ty tady v komentech), tak bych hned nasla odpoved k me otazce.
Jarybo, krasne vtipky to jsou – velmi roztomile 😉
Jarybo – ty videa jsou SUPER!!!!! Jestli tohle cele bezelo v televizi jako reklama tak to Skodovce muselo sezrat vsechny ‘uspory’ 🙂
To je v poradku Tanicko. Jak se to rika? Better late then never ;PPP
Hugz!
Ta druha reklama se mi libila nejvice ze vsech tech dvou
Myslim, ze se to Mariko preklada ‘lepsi ted, nez nikdy’ – ze jo lidicky?
Lepsie neskoro, ako nikdy.
Lepsie teraz ako nikdy nedava zmysel:)
Skodovky mam rada, ako decko sme mali Skodu 100, potom Feliciu, potom dalsiu Feliciu so silnejsim motorom a teraz nasi jazdia na Octavii. Ta ma motor ako nase Audi.
As far as I know in English the saying goes: “better late, than never” – “lepsi pozde nez nikdy” a me to dela smysl or it makes perfect sense to me ;P
MariKa, ale to je prave to, co Lenka riakala …. Nekdy nechapu zenskou logiku :)))
No tak ja tedy taky nechapu zenskou logicku protoze je sem to samy rekla jeste PRED Lenkou.
Go figure!
The Škoda cars, now manufactured in Mladá Boleslav, have an origin, as was stated, in a company of Laurin and Klement. Laurin and Klement were later bought out by the Škoda Works from Plzeň. They were bought out by VW after the ” Velvet revolution.” My name is also Škoda, and presumably, there were two brothers in the past, who have quarreled over a woman. One won, one lost, and I ques, I am from the branch, that lost. My ancestors came from Neumětele. One of the models before WWII, was a model, named “Polpular”.
Popular
I hope the ‘woman’ here is not an allegory for ‘skoda the car company’ ! 😉
By the way, is it hard for Americans pronounce your last name? The two consonants (?) ‘s’ and ‘k’ right next to each other. I have a Czech friend named Kveta and it is almost impossible for Americans to say it right.