New Yetis 2015, Skoda factory tour notes

[bluey]

Haven't seen anything on the 2015 Yeti yet on the web.

On holidays mid-year, went to the ŠKODA Museum an Factory in Mladá Boleslav.
Tours - Å KODA

The tour guide said the new Yeti was due next year and that the longer model would also be coming, maybe to be called Snowman. (The longer Yeti has been in the rumour mill for a while.)

For anyone visiting that neck of the woods, we had a great time. Just the two of us with the English-speaking guide. We drove our own rental car around the site and were shown the pressing plant and final assembly. On foot inside, we could meander around at our own pace and ask any questions we wanted. (Though we did march straight past the very informative looking display panels in one building.) Much different from the VW factory tour, which we also did later - only taken through final assembly on the non-stop "bus" (more like a snake on wheels).

Mladá Boleslav is about an hour out of Prague. A town of about 46,000. 23,000 work in the factory. So probably 80% of families have someone working in the factory. 6 of the 7 top management are Germans. The guide said Skoda is a German car company.

Production costs are lower than Germany with lower wages and 7-day production. The most popular vehicle is the white Octavia wagon.

I was surprised at how quiet the pressing machinery is. We could stand right next to the enclosed automated pressing line and still have a conversation. Did see yeti panels on racks. The Yeti factory is elsewhere but does not press panels yet.

Engine factory is off limits to visitors at Skoda and VW. But you can wander round the Mercedes V8 engine plant in Stuttgart as part of a guided tour.

The guide said they keep a book (?red book) where they can track every single person who works on every individual car and they keep it for 15 years - for quality management purposes. So if you have a quality control issue, it sounds like the company management is interested, even though Australian dealers probably aren't.

Every single vehicle does a lap of a little oval test track. (Compared to the Mercedes engine factory, where the engines leave dry and never run.)

The museum does all its own restoration of historic vehicles in house. For vintage car lovers, there was lots of detailed information and examples of the entire restoration process.

Most of the factory tours are for school groups, so they do advise booking advance. You need your own car with a spare seat for the guide. Highly recommended.

[sparkie]

A great read, thanks

[PassatB6]

Haven't seen anything on the 2015 Yeti yet on the web.

On holidays mid-year, went to the ŠKODA Museum an Factory in Mladá Boleslav.
Tours - Å*KODA

The tour guide said the new Yeti was due next year and that the longer model would also be coming, maybe to be called Snowman. (The longer Yeti has been in the rumour mill for a while.)

For anyone visiting that neck of the woods, we had a great time. Just the two of us with the English-speaking guide. We drove our own rental car around the site and were shown the pressing plant and final assembly. On foot inside, we could meander around at our own pace and ask any questions we wanted. (Though we did march straight past the very informative looking display panels in one building.) Much different from the VW factory tour, which we also did later - only taken through final assembly on the non-stop "bus" (more like a snake on wheels).

Mladá Boleslav is about an hour out of Prague. A town of about 46,000. 23,000 work in the factory. So probably 80% of families have someone working in the factory. 6 of the 7 top management are Germans. The guide said Skoda is a German car company.

Production costs are lower than Germany with lower wages and 7-day production. The most popular vehicle is the white Octavia wagon.

I was surprised at how quiet the pressing machinery is. We could stand right next to the enclosed automated pressing line and still have a conversation. Did see yeti panels on racks. The Yeti factory is elsewhere but does not press panels yet.

Engine factory is off limits to visitors at Skoda and VW. But you can wander round the Mercedes V8 engine plant in Stuttgart as part of a guided tour.

The guide said they keep a book (?red book) where they can track every single person who works on every individual car and they keep it for 15 years - for quality management purposes. So if you have a quality control issue, it sounds like the company management is interested, even though Australian dealers probably aren't.

Every single vehicle does a lap of a little oval test track. (Compared to the Mercedes engine factory, where the engines leave dry and never run.)

The museum does all its own restoration of historic vehicles in house. For vintage car lovers, there was lots of detailed information and examples of the entire restoration process.

Most of the factory tours are for school groups, so they do advise booking advance. You need your own car with a spare seat for the guide. Highly recommended.

Great work! Now I know why their quality is so good - keeping a record of every worker on every car for 15 yrs. Stuff up and the town would probably lynch you ! I went to the VW factory Wolfsburg in 2011 and they were very protective of their stuff too. There were buildings you couldn't enter, particularly the design/innovation centre.

[afterdarker]

Excellent thread, thanks Bluey, good read.

[woofy]

I've heard of others getting a tour as well, they were assigned a particularly fetching young Czech lady

[bluey]

although the guide said the new Yeti is due this year including long wheelbase version, there is surprisingly little more that I can find to date.

Spy photos only show mule
New 2016 Skoda SUV - first spy pictures | Autocar

Autobild has a rendering that looks more like a Fabia.
Skoda Yeti II - autobild.de

This site has another rendering of dubious origin.
2015 Skoda Yeti SUV - Release Date - Cars review 2016