Czech Republic - The OEM has announced that it has made 1m SUVs, suggesting that the milestone reflects its continued success in the segment which began with the launch of the Skoda Yeti back in 2009.

"It is a great achievement to have produced 1,000,000 SUVs," said Michael Oeljeklaus, Skoda board member for production and logistics. "We are currently taking the necessary measures to continue meeting the growing demand for vehicles in this segment in the future. For example, we are expanding our Kvasiny plant into a centre of excellence for SUV production. In addition, since the beginning of the year the Skoda Karoq has been the brand’s only vehicle to be produced at two of our Czech sites."

News of building the competence centre at Kvasiny was followed shortly by several updates being carried out at three of Skoda's plants during the summer shutdown period. The OEM also recently revealed that it had started making the new Fabia at its Mladá Boleslav plant.

Skoda isn't the only company to be witnessing growth in SUV demand. Groupe PSA has decided to expand output of its models in the segment, such as the Peugeot 5008 and Grandland X, while Volkswagen is now making a new variant of the Atlas at its Chattanooga factory.