Škoda honoured with Outstanding Leader of the Year and Electric Car of the Year titles by Autocar

• Innovation and leadership strategy power Škoda to double award success
• Škoda CEO Klaus Zellmer named Outstanding Leader of the Year
• Škoda Elroq collects prestigious Electric Car of the Year title

Milton Keynes, 10^th June 2026: Klaus Zellmer, CEO of Škoda Auto, has been named Outstanding Leader of the Year at the 2026 Autocar Awards, while the brand’s Elroq has been crowned Electric Car of the Year.

Zellmer, who joined the brand in 2022 as CEO, was recognised for overseeing a remarkable period of growth during which sales and profitability have grown significantly. In giving the award to Zellmer, Autocar judges recognised the expansion of the Škoda line-up and the introduction of its best-selling Enyaq and Elroq all-electric models. Editor Mark Tisshaw commented: “Škoda has sold a colossal 223,500 cars in Europe in the first quarter of 2026. That makes it not just the region’s second-biggest brand, after Volkswagen, but also one of its fastest-growing, having climbed eight places in just four years.”

In an interview with Zellmer to mark the award, he recalled the moment he was asked to join Škoda as CEO: “When they asked me [to take over Škoda], normally you have to pretend a little bit and say ‘I’ll sleep on it’, but I immediately said: ‘Yes, I’ll do it. That sounds super-interesting.’”

Fittingly, one of Zellmer’s creations, the all-electric Elroq was named Electric Car Of the Year by the Autocar judging panel, adding to its impressive haul of industry accolades in the process. Explaining the decision, Mark Tisshaw said: “Remember when new electric cars were all huge, had a motor at each end and bristled with more complexity than you could shake a stick at? Well, the Škoda Elroq, our favourite electric car on today’s market, is emphatically not that and is all the better for it. This is one of those subtle EV mile-eaters: quiet, smooth, effective.”

Since its introduction in 2025, the Elroq has collected a string of major industry awards. It was named Car of the Year 2025 and Best Mid-Size SUV by Auto Express, won Family Electric SUV of the Year and later Best Electric Family SUV at the What Car? Awards, and was crowned Car of the Year 2026 by The Car Expert. The Elroq also secured Car of the Year honours at the Company Car & Van Awards, while the performance-focused Elroq vRS was named Car of the Year by The Sunday Times Driving.

A full database of downloadable media assets relating to the Elroq and all other Škoda models can be found at www.skodamedia.com .

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Škoda Auto

• is successfully steering through the new decade with the Next Level Škoda Strategy;
• aims to become one of the top three best-selling brands in Europe by the end of the decade by offering its customers the best of both worlds through a range of attractive BEV, hybrid & ICE products;
• effectively exploits the potential in important growth markets such as India, Vietnam and the ASEAN region;
• currently offers customers 13 passenger car model ranges: Fabia, Scala, Octavia, Superb, Kamiq, Karoq, Kodiaq, Epiq, Elroq, Enyaq, Slavia, Kylaq and Kushaq;
• delivered more than 1,040,000 vehicles to customers worldwide in 2025;
• has been part of the Volkswagen Group, one of the world's most successful car manufacturers, for more than 30 years;
• is part of Brand Group CORE, an organisational merger of the Volkswagen Group's volume brands, with the aim of achieving joint growth and significantly increasing the overall efficiency of all five volume brands;
• independently develops and produces components such as MEB battery systems, engines and transmissions for other Volkswagen Group brands;
• operates three production plants in the Czech Republic; has production capacities in Spain, Slovakia, Kazakhstan and India, mostly through group partnerships, as well as in Vietnam and Ukraine in cooperation with a local partner;
• employs around 40,000 people worldwide and is active in almost 100 markets.

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