CZECH REPUBLIC: An agreement designed to end ‘frequent confusion’ around the use of the Škoda name and logo has been signed by PPF Group, which owns the Plzeň-based Škoda Group engineering business including Škoda Transportation, and Mladá Boleslav-based car manufacturer Škoda Auto which is part of the Volkswagen Group.
PPF is to sell the rights to the Škoda brand to the car manufacturer, and will use the proceeds to reduce Škoda Group’s debt and further expand its business. Under the deal the engineering group can use the Škoda name and the winged arrow logo until 2029.
Škoda Group has not revealed the name it will use after this date.
Škoda registered the winged arrow logo as a trademark in December 1923. The car maker, which started as Laurin & Klement, has used the brand since being taken over by Škoda in 1925, and continued to do so after it was spun off and acquired by Volkswagen in the 1990s.
A survey conducted for Škoda Group by Ipsos in 2021 found that 93% of the general public associated the Škoda brand with the car maker, while only a quarter of the Czech population was familiar with the Plzeň-based engineering group.
‘We remain proud ambassadors of the legacy left by Emil Škoda, who paved the way for the industry to flourish in Plzeň and across the Czech Republic’, said Stanislav Kuba, head of PPF Group’s industry division and Chairman of Škoda Transportation’s supervisory board following the June 23 agreement.
‘However, the time has come to acknowledge reality and resolve long-standing disputes over the scope of rights which have resulted from completely different products being marketed under the same brand.
‘I am confident that the final agreement we have reached will help Plzeň-based Škoda forge a future in pursuit of its vision as a company that delivers comprehensive solutions for modern mobility in addition to a range of public transport vehicles’.
