The Czechoslovak automotive industry and the launch of a new model: The Škoda factory in Mladá Boleslav,in the 1970s and 1980s

Abstract

From 1945 to 1989, the Automobilové závody, n.p. (Automotive Plant, a national enterprise), in Mladá Boleslav, manufactured one of the best-known brands of motor car in the Eastern Bloc, the Škoda. This article focuses on the process of planning and manufacturing a change in models in the Czechoslovak automotive industry between 1968 and 1990. It is widely known how the launch of a new model of car represents a key step for every car manufacturer in most parts of the globe. In Czechoslovakia under Communist rule, however, passing from one model to another entailed grotesque, almost insuperable, difficulties, and it can therefore be seen as a textbook example of the complications of the innovation process in a centrally planned economy. The article draws not only on documentation available in company archives but also on the records of the Czechoslovak secret police, the State Security services.