Czechia's biggest carmaker Skoda Auto posted a drop in non-consolidated net profit by 52% year-on-year to CZK15.2bn (€580mn) in 2020, according to its annual report. 

Its non-consolidated sales decreased by 7.6% to CZK424.3bn, mainly due to a negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on car production and sales, as well as the development of exchange rates.

“Our share of the European market increased by 0.5 percentage points to 5.4%. In other words, Skoda has further strengthened its position as one of the leading brands in the volume segment,” said Skoda Auto CEO Thomas Schafer. 

The company delivered 1,004,800 vehicles to customers worldwide, exceeding one million deliveries for the seventh consecutive year. Germany remains its second strongest single market, delivering 161,800 vehicles. The Octavia remained its best-selling model with 257,400 deliveries.

“In Central Europe, Skoda´s deliveries decreased by 15.7% to 181,900 vehicles. In our home market, Czech Republic, we lost 11.6% but could increase our market share up to 41%, which is 3.3%-points above 2019,” said Member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing Martin Jahn. 

“Incidentally, we are the only brand worldwide whose market share in a single country has been more than 30% for decades. Overall, we were able to increase our performance in all further Central European markets as well,” Jahn added. 

Investments excluding development costs fell from CZK32.1bn to CZK17.8bn in 2020, mainly to product investments in connection with the launch of new models, units and batteries. 

For more than a year, the company has produced high-voltage batteries at its Mlada Boleslav plant for use in the Super iV, Octavia iV and Octavia RS iV as well as other plug-in hybrid models from the Volkswagen, Audi and Seat brands. 

According to the company, the development of green electricity and a nationwide charging infrastructure will be crucial for electromobility to take off in Czechia. 

Last year, Skoda spent CZK18.5bn on research and development of new products, down by CZK7.7bn y/y.