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Škoda Auto is celebrating 85 years since its merger with Škoda Plzeň through which it acquired its today's name, as well as its winged-arrow logo. This strategic partnership lasted until 1945 when the government nationalised major industrial companies and decided that the liaison between the Mladá Boleslav-based car manufacturer and the machinery works in Pilsen was no longer necessary. In 1991, Škoda merged with another strategic partner, the German based Volkswagen Group. The Czech Republic's biggest car manufacturer, Škoda Auto, is now a global player present in over 100 markets worldwide.

Václav Klement was looking for a suitable partner already before World War I. To remain competitive in the face of massive expansion of production operations worldwide, the company needed huge investments in plant and machinery. In the difficult post-war times, a suitable merger became a necessity.

Commenting on Václav Klement's reflections, Head of Škoda Auto Archive Lukáš Nachtmann explains: "The best possible partner was a company with enough capital, a big name and extensive market presence that had to abandon a part of its production and was looking for suitable ways of extending its portfolio, which was exactly the case of Škoda Plzeň, a company that had been the monarchy's biggest arms manufacturer before the war".

On 20 July, 1925, the Mladá Boleslav-based car manufacturer merged with Akciová společnost (former Škodovy Závody) in Pilsen. As a result, Škoda's own automotive department in Pilsen that had been established already in 1919 grew in importance. The Pilsen-based company moved a part of its license production of the big prestigious limousine Hispano-Suiza, and an extensive modernisation of the manufacturing plant made it possible to start series production and launch several new models.

The independent company L&K (Laurin a Klement, Car Manufacturers in Mladá Boleslav) was removed from the Companies Register in late December 1925, but its logo remained on the cars' radiator grilles for several years and was even extended with the well-known winged arrow. The car manufacturing plant gained a certain degree of independence of its parent company over time and continued its business operations as ASAP (Akciová společnost pro automobilový průmysl – Joint-Stock Company For the Automotive Industry).

During World War II, the entire Škoda group and Brněnská Zbrojovka (Brno-based arms manufacturer) became part of Reichswerke Hermann Göring as Waffenunion Škoda-Brünn. After the war, on 27 October, 1945, the company was nationalised and the Škoda group split into two companies. "Despite repeated attempts and proposals from our side, the government decided that the cooperation between Mladá Boleslav and Pilsen was no longer necessary", says Lukáš Nachtmann.

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