After being closed for more than two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, ŠKODA AUTO is now reopening its Czech production facilities to visitors. The guided tours of selected plant areas and final assembly are ideal for school groups and families with children aged ten and over. The tours are offered in various languages, including Czech, English, German and Dutch.
“We are delighted to finally be able to offer our factory tours again after more than two years. It’s worthwhile visiting because our plants have changed a lot in that time. In Mladá Boleslav, for example, we’ve started producing the all-electric ENYAQ iV family as well as MEB battery systems, and in Kvasiny we’ve continued to systematically modernise the production facilities. Meanwhile, the Vrchlabí plant became ŠKODA AUTO’s first CO2-neutral production site at the end of 2020.”
Andrea Frydlová, Head of the ŠKODA Museum
The only requirement for a guided tour of the Mladá Boleslav plant is to pick up a ticket from the ŠKODA Museum. The admission for a guided tour in Czech is 180 CZK; for a plant tour in other languages, it is CZK 260. Guided tours at the Kvasiny and Vrchlabí sites are free of charge. The tours, which last around two hours, are often accompanied by the carmaker’s former employees.
The tours are aimed at technology enthusiasts as well as school classes and families with children aged ten and over. The ŠKODA ENYAQ iV family, the manufacturer’s first all-electric production models based on the Volkswagen Group’s Modular Electrification Toolkit (MEB) are now rolling off the same production line in Mladá Boleslav as vehicles with combustion engines based on the MQB. To achieve this, ŠKODA AUTO made major adjustments to the production line. The production of battery systems for various Group brands’ MEB vehicles has also recently been launched at the main plant, making Mladá Boleslav the only location in Europe outside Germany where these battery systems are manufactured.
Around 7,000 employees currently produce the SUPERB and SUPERB iV models as well as the KAROQ and KODIAQ in Kvasiny. By relocating the new-generation SUPERB to Bratislava, capacities will be created at the site for an additional 150,000 units of the SUV series KODIAQ and KAROQ.
The Vrchlabí plant plays a central role in component production for ŠKODA AUTO. This is where the DQ200 automatic direct-shift gearbox is produced; in early February this year, the four millionth DQ200 gearbox left the assembly line since production started in October 2012. Since the end of 2020, the site has been the Czech carmaker’s first CO2-neutral production facility.
Article source: www.skoda-storyboard.com
