The Czech car maker Skoda has long repaired the reputation for poor quality that once made it the butt of jokes . Now it has passed another milestone on its journey to respectability after racking up annual global sales of more than a million cars for the first time in its history . The company , which began as a bicycle maker in 1895 and is now owned by VW of Germany , sold 1,037,200 cars around the world last year , up 12.7 per cent on 2013 . No Joke : The Skoda Octavia is one of the manufacturer 's most popular cars as annual sales of Skoda 's exceeded one million for the first time last year . More than a quarter of last year 's sales ( 281,000 ) were in China , and 75,488 in Britain . Sleek : Skoda 's have shed bad reputation with sales reaching more than a million last year . Skoda CEO Dr Winfried Vahland said : 'By delivering more than one million vehicles for the first time in a single year , we have sustainably established ourselves as a volume manufacturer on the international markets with our modern model range . ' Skoda factories produce cars in the Czech Republic but also in China , Russia , Slovakia and India and through local partners in Ukraine and Kazakhstan . It currently employs 25,800 people worldwide . The company , whose range includes popular models such as the Superb , Yeti , Fabia and Octavia , now sells 1.4 per cent of cars in the world .
Car maker once butt of jokes but now force in car manufacturing . Company began as bicycle maker in 1895 and now owned by VW . More than a quarter of sales last year 's sales were in the Czech Republic .