CarBrandLogos archive · Škoda · 1987

ŠkodaFavorit

The Bertone-styled hatchback that made Škoda worth buying — and worth buying out.

Photo: Kankolka · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Škoda history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Škoda Favorit, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

By the mid-1980s Škoda was selling rear-engined saloons whose basic layout dated to 1964, and the joke about where you put the engine had become the company's public identity in Western Europe. The Favorit, launched in 1987, was the response: a five-door hatchback with the engine in the front driving the front wheels, in the format the rest of Europe had settled on more than a decade earlier.

Škoda favorit racing · Original uploader and author was Sigma at cs.wikipedia · Public domain

Design and engineering

The body was styled by Bertone under Marc Deschamps, and it was good — crisp, upright, well-proportioned and completely free of the awkwardness that usually marked Eastern Bloc attempts at modernity. Underneath was a 1289cc four-cylinder derived from the earlier engine but reworked for the new layout, with a five-speed gearbox. Development was done on a limited budget and it showed in the trim and the electrics, but the fundamentals — packaging, ride, steering — were sound, and the car was genuinely cheap.

SKODA Forman and Favorit Black Line · Tocsa120ls · Public domain

In production

A Forman estate and a pickup followed. So did rallying success, where the Favorit's light weight and front drive made it competitive in the smaller classes, including class wins on the RAC and Monte Carlo rallies.

Brno, Wurmova, Škoda Pick-up · Harold · CC BY-SA 3.0

Legacy

Its real consequence was corporate. When Volkswagen and Renault competed for the newly privatised Škoda after 1989, they were bidding for a company that had just proved it could produce a modern, well-designed car. Volkswagen won, put money into the Favorit's production quality almost immediately, and replaced it with the Felicia in 1994. The Favorit is the hinge between the two Škodas.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1987–1994

Engine

1,289&nbsp

Designer

Bertone under Marc Deschamps

Body

5-door hatchback

Technical specification

The Favorit, in detail.

Production: 1987–1994 (Favorit); 1990–1995 (Forman); 1991–1995 (Pick-up)
Class: Supermini (B)
Body style: 5-door hatchback; 5-door estate; 2-door coupé utility (pick up)
Layout: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive
Engine: 1,289 cc I4 (petrol)
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Designer: Bertone under Marc Deschamps
Assembly: Vrchlabí, Czech Republic; Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic; Kvasiny, Czech Republic; Poznań, Poland
Manufacturer: Škoda Auto