ŠKODA Student Concept Car: Lighthouse project steeped in tradition

› Student Concept Cars have been built at the ŠKODA Vocational School since the 2013/14 academic year
› 25 apprentices have now completed the eighth Student Concept Car, the ŠKODA AFRIQ
› Forerunners of the ŠKODA Student Concept Cars date back to the 70s

Mladá Boleslav, 23 May 2022 – The ŠKODA Student Concept Car has been the highlight of the apprentices’ training at the ŠKODA Vocational School since the 2013/14 academic year. With the support of their tutors and experts from all departments at ŠKODA AUTO, they design and build their very own dream car. 25 apprentices have now completed the eighth ŠKODA Student Concept Car, the ŠKODA AFRIQ. At first glance, the spectacular rally version of the ŠKODA KAMIQ city SUV evokes the atmosphere of the legendary Dakar Rally. The name AFRIQ also underlines this association, pointing to ŠKODA AUTO’s responsibility for the Group’s activities in the North Africa region since 1 January 2021.

A lighthouse project of the ŠKODA Vocational School in Mladá Boleslav, the ŠKODA Student Concept Car project has testified to the high standard of training at ŠKODA AUTO every year since 2013/14. The apprentices are supported in planning, designing and building their dream car by tutors and experts from across the company as they transform a ŠKODA production model into a spectacular concept vehicle. This allows the team members to consolidate what they have learned, apply and hone their skills and work collaboratively. At the same time, they are introduced to various processes within the company. For the eighth Student Concept Car, experts from ŠKODA Motorsport played a more prominent role than ever in the project, joining specialists from the Development, ŠKODA Design and Production departments.

The idea to introduce the Student Concept Car project came from a similar training programme at Volkswagen. At ŠKODA AUTO, the forerunners of today’s Student Concept Cars were produced as early as the 1970s: Besides several small tractors and a ŠKODA 120 pickup, ŠKODA apprentices produced four units of the ŠKODA BUGGY Type 736 in 1975. This model was based on the autocross racing cars, which made their way onto the European motorsport scene and into what was then Czechoslovakia in the late 1960s, with the eponymous racing format. One of these buggies is now on display at the ŠKODA Museum in Mladá Boleslav after being painstakingly restored in 2017 by the ŠKODA Vocational School apprentices.

Built in 2014, the first ŠKODA Student Concept Car was the CITIJET, a two-seater version of the ŠKODA CITIGO. This was followed a year later by the FUNSTAR pickup based on the ŠKODA FABIA. In 2016, the apprentices presented the ATERO, a coupé based on the ŠKODA RAPID SPACEBACK. In 2017, the vocational students designed the electric ELEMENT, the second Student Concept Car derived from the ŠKODA CITIGO. The fifth Student Concept Car in 2018 was the SUNROQ convertible study created from a ŠKODA KAROQ SUV. In 2019, the students transformed a ŠKODA KODIAQ into the impressive MOUNTIAQ pickup, before 2020 saw the creation of the SLAVIA Spider based on the ŠKODA SCALA. The model name marked ŠKODA’s 125^th anniversary, recalling the first bicycles produced by Václav Laurin and Václav Klement after the company was founded in 1895.