ŠKODA AUTOMOBILE FACTORIES IN 1945-1960

The aim of this thesis is to map the process of introduction of national administration in the Škoda car factory, nationalization and subsequent separation of the car factory from the Škoda Plzeň concern and how these processes affected the production and sales of Škoda cars between 1945 and 1960. The first part of the thesis defines nationalisation, outlines the development and production of Škoda plants up to 1945, political developments in Czechoslovakia in the period under review and the introduction of economic plans. The main part of the thesis consists of an analysis of the nationalisation processes concerning the Škoda car plant and its production from 1945 to 1960. The nationalisation processes affected the production of Škoda Auto by expanding the number of models produced. This expansion was caused by the merging of nationalised enterprises. Production was affected by the two-year and five-year plans according to which production had to be managed. The process of nationalisation was reflected in the sale of cars by a single dealer, the Central Sales Office (later Mototechna), which was the only company selling cars produced by AZNP. The author has managed to comprehensively summarize the issue of the nationalization of Škoda car production and describe the development of production and sales of cars of these plants in the rather turbulent period after the end of World War II.