Skoda car sales up

Hostesses present the new Skoda Kodiaq on media day at the Paris auto show, in Paris, France, September 30, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Czech carmaker Skoda sold a record number of 317,100 cars last year in China, a 12.6 percent increase from the year before.

The company's strong performance in China, its largest market worldwide, has helped the automaker's global sales hit 1.12 million, a 6.8 percent increase.

"The record result of 2016 highlights the fact that we increased the attractiveness of our brand last year with our young and modern model range,"  Skoda CEO Bernhard Maier said.

"With a total of 11 model innovations, we will continue this trend in 2017. In particular, the market launches of the revised Octavia and the new SUV Kodiaq are expected to provide further positive momentum for the brand in the first half of the year," Maier said.

Skoda said the Kodiaq will be localized in China and will hit the Chinese market in the second quarter of 2017.

The automaker started customizing vehicles for China with SAIC Volkswagen in 2007, becoming a shareholder of the joint venture earlier last year.

Skoda China President Andreas Hafemann said the joint venture's three shareholders -SAIC Motor, Volkswagen AG and Skoda - will invest 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) over five years to introduce more models, including SUVs and new energy vehicles.

Thanks to its growing portfolio, Skoda expects China sales to reach 600,000 units by 2020.