After I ordered my Superb, I have been asked many times by families, friends and colleagues "what car did you get?". When I told them Skoda, I had all kinds of weird facial expressions and comments:

"Why did you get a Skoda? Isn't that Russian?" Says one person.
"No it's not Russian. It's actually from Czechslovakia!" Says another

When I took my parents for a test drive with the Superb. Before they saw the car, they thought I was getting a scooter (In Japanese, scooter is pronounces "sukuta", very similar to Skoda). When they sat in the car they reckon it was German. But as soon as I told them it's from Czech Republic, their reaction was "What, Communist country?"

I have to give these people lots of history and geography lesson that Czech Republic is not Russia, there is no more Czechslovakia, Czech Republic is not a communist country now, and it is considered by world bank as a developed country in 2007!

Anyway, on odd occasions, I do have some knowledgeable people that knows Skodas are good cars, but is a bit afraid to commit to an unknown brand, and is just waiting to see my car with curiosity. Most of these people are from UK or Europe.

According to Matthew Wiesner, he reckons Skoda Aus has given Skoda enough exposures here to make the brand widely known. But from my experience, it is certainly not the case. Skoda Aus still has a lot of work to do. In Taiwan, the Swire group who imports Skodas, they use the slogan "German technology, Bohemian art, 100 years of craft" instead of "simply clever". It seen to work quite well as many people there have considered Skoda as a German car, and they've been selling more than 1000 cars there this year so far, yet the brand only came in 2009!

I am curious to know how everyone's experiences have been. Mainly positive or negative? How do all your friends, relatives and colleague react to you buying a skoda? How have they perceive the brand?