Skoda-Auto a.s. from the Czech Republic, a subsidiary of Volkswagen A.G. continues its astonishing change of fortunes in now regularly being recognised as a market leader in terms of quality manufacturing and customer satisfaction.

Following on its their success in the 2006 J.D. Power Survey, being the only European manufacturer recording three models in the overall top 10 ratings, similar recognition has now been achieved in the recently published Auto-Express magazine.

This is the UK’s largest selling weekly car magazine and every year it undertakes its own “Driver Power Top 100 Cars”, surveying 46,000 owners to obtain their direct feedback from a total of 10 categories including performance, ride quality, handling, braking, practicality, comfort, ease of driving, build quality, reliability and running costs. The data was consolidated by an independent data company which created a score for each model, resulting in the Top 100 Rankings.

The outstanding success was the placing second of all cars of the new Skoda Octavia, being assessed for the first time since it was launched.

In addition, the Skoda Fabia was placed fifth overall just ahead of the previous Skoda Octavia model in sixth place. This remarkable achievement of having three models placed in the top six has again demonstrated the phenomenal achievements of the Skoda brand over the last decade.

Production at the company’s main plant in Mlada Boleslav continues to increase at a rate of over 20 per cent per annum, with sales this year expected to reach 500,000 vehicles.

The manufacturer is also preparing itself to enter the highly competitive MPV market, with the launch later this year in Malta of the Roomster, an extremely versatile and spacious family car, where the emphasis is on practicality, passenger comfort and carrying capacity.

This eagerly awaited new addition to the brand’s product range is expected to further demonstrate the company’s ability to produce value for money quality vehicles.