SKODA’S factory in the Czech Republic has built the 500,000th Octavia model since production began in February 2004.

The Octavia has helped push Skoda in the UK towards its target of a 2% market share thanks to a strong showing in the fleet market.

Last year Skoda sold around 18,000 Octavias in the UK, of which 10,500 were to fleets.

The range will be bolstered later this year with the four-wheel drive Scout. In a bid to push fleet sales further, Skoda has doubled its fleet sales operation to 22 people and increased the number of specialist business sales centres across its dealer network from 18 to 41 sites.