Memorial plaque at the birth house of Václav Laurin in Kamení u Pěnčína
Vaclav Laurin was a Czech engineer,entrepreneur and industrialist, co-founder of what is now Škoda Auto.
Škoda Auto, more commonly known as Škoda, is an automobile manufacturer basedin the Czech Republic. Škoda became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group in 2000, positioned as theentry brand to the group. The origins of what became Škoda Auto go back to 1894 where a company started out manufacturing bicycles. Václav Klement, who was a bookseller in Mladá Boleslav, in today's Czech Republic, which was then part of Austria-Hungary, was unable to obtain spare parts to repair his German bicycle. Klement, despite not having technical experience, decided to start a bicycle repair shop, which he and Václav Laurin opened in 1895 in Mladá Boleslav.
Who-is-Who in MMS, History of machines, history of mechanical engineering, machine design,engineer, entrepreneur, automobile, bicycle.