Škoda Classic Tour stopped off at a huge parts warehouse

Do you know how many pallets can fit in the Škoda Parts Center, the Czech carmaker’s automated high-rise warehouse? This was one of the problems participants in the Škoda Classic Tour 2024 had to solve, because this 40 metre high building was one of the stops on this year’s vintage car rally for Škoda employees.

3. 9. 2024 Škoda World

The Škoda Parts Center is a state-of-the-art warehouse near the Czech carmaker’s hometown Mladá Boleslav. From this warehouse, spare parts for Škoda cars are dispatched to more than 100 countries around the world. It covers an area of 105,000 square metres and contains 140,000 types of components of various sizes, from small screws to sheet-metal body parts, and totalling approximately 13 million individual items.

Participants of the Škoda Classic Tour drive through the gate of the Škoda Parts Center.

The Škoda Parts Center includes a high-rise, fully automatic warehouse, which was a stop on this year’s Škoda Classic Tour, a rally that is open to Škoda employees with cars over 30 years old.

Meeting of different decades – the current version of the Kodiaq and the racing version of the Favorit

Unsurprisingly, most of the vintage cars are Škodas. There’s no shortage of legendary 110 R coupés, and the Favorit model is well represented. This year, the first modern Felicias met the age threshold for participation for the first time. Several older convertibles bearing the same name regularly take part. Cars from Germany, Italy and the USA are also in evidence, though.

Cars in the car park in front of the Škoda Parts Center

Tens of thousands of pallets and robots

For the more than 210 crews entered in the precision-driving rally, one of the compulsory stops on the route was the high-rise warehouse. The cars drove up to the building and parked in the area where lorries carrying goods for the warehouse are normally unloaded. The participants then entered the building that covers an area of 110 by 52 metres and rises to a height of 40 metres, where stacking robots glide down the eleven aisles to load and unload pallets. This is where they had to answer the question mentioned in the introduction to this article.

Competitors answered the question on how many pallets the Škoda Parts Center’s automated high-bay warehouse can hold.

Some tried to work it out, others just tried a lucky guess. The actual figure is 42,000 pallets. At the end of the day, though, most of the participants weren’t that bothered whether they answered correctly or crossed the finish line first. After driving 126 km on the roads of Central Bohemia, the winners weren’t only those who came closest to the set average speed, but everyone who enjoyed a great day out with family and colleagues on this year’s Škoda Classic Tour.