NUMBER OF THE MONTH: 7,000,000

The ŠKODA OCTAVIA is the most popular model made by the Mladá Boleslav-based carmaker. The figure of seven million units is the joint achievement of one historic and four modern generations of the car.

The original OCTAVIA, which got its name from the number eight as it was ŠKODA’s eighth post-war model, was produced from 1959 to 1971, with a total of 365,400 units made. That was a huge achievement at the time. It’s a remarkable fact, though, that ŠKODA sold more OCTAVIA cars last year than in the full 22-year history of the series’ founding model: in 2019 the company produced 373,700 OCTAVIA cars.

The first ŠKODA OCTAVIA from 1959

The first modern times generation

That makes it clear how popular these cars are in the carmaker's modern history. The first modern generation that was manufactured from 1996 to 2010 numbered 1,442,100 units. The second generation, which was unveiled in Geneva in 2004, ran to over 2.5 million units.

The second generation

The third generation

The OCTAVIA III that premiered in 2012 has been bought by over 2.8 million customers. The OCTAVIA model turned 60 in 2019, and this video was made to celebrate its birthday:

In November, the world caught its first glimpse of the fourth OCTAVIA model. Production of this model is just getting underway.

Present times - generation number four

The number seven million is the latest in our Number of the Month serial. In this serial, ŠKODA Storyboard regularly presents interesting facts and figures about ŠKODA vehicles – their history, present and future – or about the goings-on in the company ŠKODA, focusing on a particular number.