The Valentas and their Cars

The Valentas and their Cars Ambition is coming to an end, and the whole plot revolves around a fictional car manufacturing company called Valenta Vehicles, and their ambition to make succeed. We even hear them comparing it or being envious of Ford. In this article we are going to profile the prominent Czech car companies of that era that are still in production today. Praga (1907–present) Based in Prague, Czech Republic, this company produced automobiles, karts and planes. The Praga V3S 5-ton truck was used by the Czechoslovak Army for more than half a century. Praga was founded in 1907 to build motor cars as a venture between entrepreneur František Ringhoffer and the First Bohemian-Moravian Machine Works. Ringhoffer only stayed for one year and in 1909, the trade name Praga ("Prague" in Latin) was adopted. In 1929, Praga merged with ČKD, one of Czechoslovakia's largest engineering companies. The factory was largely destroyed by air raids in 1945. After the Second World War it was rebuilt and resumed truck and bus production. The firm was nationalized in October 1945. Passenger cars were also manufactured in small numbers until 1947 for use by government officials. In 2006 the Praga brand was purchased by the British company International Truck Alliance with the intention to produce trucks under the Praga brand in Lublin, Poland. In 2007, it produced gearboxes and hydraulic machinery. Later, the brand returned to the Czech company Praga-Export s.r.o.

Škoda Auto (1925–present) Škoda is a Czech automobile manufacturer established in 1925 as the successor to Laurin & Klement and headquartered in Mladá Boleslav. Škoda Works became state owned in 1948. After 1991, it had been gradually privatized to the German Volkswagen Group, becoming a subsidiary in 1994 and since 2000 a wholly owned subsidiary. Škoda automobiles are sold in over 100 countries and in 2018, total global sales reached 1.25 million units. The operating profit was €1.6 billion in 2017. Skoda is the Czech Republic's largest company in terms of revenues, producing about ten percent of the country's exports. Avia (1919–present) Avia Motors was founded in 1919 as an aircraft maker and diversified into trucks after 1945. It was founded by Pavel Beneš, Miroslav Hajn, Jaroslav František Koch and Václav Malý in 1919 and became part of Škoda Works (not to be confused with Škoda Auto) in 1928. During the 1930s, the factory became the biggest aircraft producer in Czechoslovakia and moved to Letňany, near Prague, where production continues until today. Avia began to be active in the automotive industry in the post-war period. In addition to trucks, the company also produced armored personnel carriers for the army. The crucial milestone, however, was the signing of a license agreement with French company Saviem for the production of the very successful light trucks under the brand name Avia. Return to Ambition