Laurin & Klement

Start

The reason for the founding of the company was partly a funny incident. 26-year-old bookseller purchased a bicycle manufactured by the German company , which, contrary to the expectations of the owner, often broke down. Vaclav wrote a complaint to the Czech office of the manufacturer, located in Usti nad Labem , from where he received a reply with the requirement to write a complaint in German. Although at that time German was considered the main language in Austria-Hungary , but the situation as a whole hurt Clement and he decided that he would be able to independently produce bicycles, only more reliable ones. The mechanic Vaclav Laurin , who frequently visited the Clement bookstore, became a companion; the workshop was located in a rented room on the outskirts of Mladá Boleslav . The newly-formed company was named Laurin & Klement, and from December 1895 they began to produce bicycles under the trademark Slavia, which had patriotic Slavic subtext. Products quickly gained popularity, the company's staff constantly increased, and the scale of production grew, as early as 1897, own land was acquired and a factory was built.

After some time, experiments began with the installation of the engine on a bicycle, and in 1899 the companions built a full-fledged motorcycle called . The first 35 copies were sold in Germany, and in 1900 they managed to send a large batch of 150 pieces to Hawetson from London. Czech motorcycles were used in service in the British Royal Mail ^[1] . A year later, L & K for the first time participated in a major motorcycle race, which took place on the route Paris-Berlin, and ended with the success of the factory pilot Narcis Podsednichek. Brand legend claims that the Czech motorcycle racingman arrived at the finish line first, at three o'clock in the morning, much earlier than the judges began their work. For this reason, the result was not correctly recorded ^[2] .

In 1903, the production of motorcycles began to dominate over bicycles, the factory increased in size, the number of employees exceeded 200. The company's success was largely due to the achievements of its riders: in addition to Podsednichek, Frantishek Toman and, especially, , who won In 1905, in the class in French Durdane , in its class, this part of the story was reflected in the 1957 Czechoslovak film “ Grandpa-car ”. After less than a decade of production, in March 1905, L & K completed the production of bicycles, fully switching to motorcycles and cars.

Production Expansion

The first car of the brand was the model Laurin & Klement A or the Voiturette Type A, with a two-cylinder 1.1-liter engine with a power of 7 hp, produced in 1905-1907. It turned out to be quite successful by the standards of its time, and has sold more than one hundred copies. In 1906, four more models went into production, two-cylinder , and , as well as the first 4-cylinder model of the brand . The most popular of this quartet was the , produced in an amount of 250 pieces (222 double, 15 four-seater, plus 13 chassis and commercial vehicles). In 1907, the 4-cylinder and completed the production range. The model was the largest in size and the largest in the period 1907-1909, produced 371 copies with phaeton bodies, limousine , landau , van , omnibus and in the ambulance version.

The growing demand pushed for additional capital for development, and therefore in 1907, the type of property was transformed into a joint-stock company. took over as CEO, and Vaclav Laurin as technical director. The size of the factory grew steadily, the number of employees exceeded six hundred. The range of models continued to expand, in the same year the first eight-cylinder Laurin & Klement, model FF , was launched, and the sports began to be produced in small series. Soon the company became the largest automaker in Austria-Hungary . A great influence on sales was made by the sporting success of the Laurin & Klement cars, on which it was possible to regularly perform well in international auto competitions. The most successful pilots behind the wheel of Czech cars were , , Count Alexander Joseph Kolovrat-Krakow .

In 1912, the automobile factory, located in the city of Reichenberg , was absorbed. Simultaneously with the growth of the plant, the product range expanded, which began to cover new engineering sectors for the company. Started producing stationary engines (licensed by ), aircraft engines (licensed by Lorraine-Dietrich ), plunger , Laurin & Klement VB road rollers (in collaboration with First Prague Stock Machinery Ruston ), , etc.

World War I

During World War I, the plant was stably loaded with military orders, motorcycles, cars and trucks were produced for the needs of the Austro-Hungarian army. Conversely, after the war, problems arose due to the collapse of Austria-Hungary , most of the clients suddenly found themselves outside the borders, many pre-war business connections were destroyed, and exports were minimized. New European states were economically weak, including the newly-formed First Czechoslovak Republic , which actively fought for territorial integrity, and automakers in its territory were under the control of the army. At this time, at Laurin & Klement, restrictions on the production of automobiles were partially compensated for by other activities, such as the production of , which were in good demand.

The post-war period and the merger with Škoda

A few years after the end of the First World War, the country's economy began to recover, Laurin & Klement experienced a new round of business activity, updated trade links, despite the increased number of customs barriers with neighboring countries. The company gradually increased the total output, although the post-war models themselves were considered conservative against the background of competitors' products. A typical representative in the production scale can be called the , which was collected from 1911 to 1924, and was produced in the amount of 1853 copies.

On June 28, 1924, a fire broke out at the enterprise, which destroyed a significant part of the equipment. Although the technical equipment was replaced, and in November 1924 it was installed in new buildings, Laurin & Klement found itself in a difficult condition: because of its outdated concept, its models hardly competed on the domestic market with machines from Czech companies Praga and Tatra , the scale of production remained relatively small, and as a result, product prices are high. Financial investments were necessary both for the expansion of production and for the development of new models. Therefore, on June 27, 1925, a merger with the Czech concern Akciová společnost, dříve Škodovy závody v Plzni (now Škoda Holding ) took place. The automobile plant in Mladá Boleslav has since become specialized in the production of passenger cars under the Škoda brand, almost the entire administration has moved to its headquarters in Prague , and the development and production of commercial vehicles is in Pilsen . Motorcycle production has ceased.

Today, Škoda Auto uses the name Laurin & Klement to denote the most prestigious versions of some of its car models, such as the Octavia , Superb , Kodiaq . In particular, the president of the Czech Republic uses for business trips and official visits of Škoda Superb by Laurin & Klement ^{[3] [4]} . The surviving copies of the Laurin & Klement cars from factory stores are periodically provided for test drives for automotive journalists ^{[5] [6]} .

The Russian market before the First World War was one of the key for the company Laurin & Klement. The Russian Empire accounted for up to a third of exports ^[7] , and in a number of cities, L & K models were among the leaders in the number of cars represented ^{[8] [9]} . At the same time, the Voiturette Type A was one of the most affordable on the market ^[10] . At the same time, in the range were present and expensive models, thanks to which their owners became representatives of the nobility. There is a case when Laurin & Klement was used by Nicholas II , during a visit to the Askania-Nova reserve in 1914, at the invitation of Friedrich Eduardovich Faltz-Fein . At the same time, the emperor actually violated the secret court etiquette, according to which he had to move only by car from the imperial garage ^[11] .

In 1907, Laurin & Klement cars were shown at the First International Automobile Exhibition in St. Petersburg. In the same year, Petrovsky Garage in Moscow purchased three buses to organize regular bus routes. A year later, two cars took part in the Petersburg-Moscow rally. And in 1911, five cars of the factory team participated in the run on the route Petersburg - Sevastopol , passing the distance without penalty points. In addition, in 1911–1912, Laurin & Klement took part in three Russian test rally runs conducted by the military departments.

With the beginning of the First World War, the company ceased its activities in Russia ^[12] .

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  Motorcycle Laurin & Klement Typ 1 (1903)

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  Laurin & Klement tricycle

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  Laurint & Klement Typ A (1906)

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  Laurint & Klement BS (1907)

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  Laurin & Klement S

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  Laurin & Klement S

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  Laurin & Klement 300

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  Omnibus Laurin & Klement

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  Laurin & Klement - Škoda 110

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  Miloš Zeman receives keys from Škoda Superb by Laurin & Klement

• Vaclav Laurin
• Škoda Auto

• Petr Kožíšek, Jan Králík. L & K - Škoda: 1895-1945. The upward path, Part 1. - Moto Public, 2004. - 423 p. - ISBN 80-239-1851-6 .
• Váňa Daniel. Zur Frage der Rüstungsproduktion in den Škodawerken bis zur Weltwirtschaftkrise (1859-1934). - Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Arts, 1997. - ISBN 80-85899-24-8 .
• Yevgeny Kochnev. Legendary cars (1870-1918). - M .: Yauza; Eksmo, 2010. - p. 80–81. - 670 s. - ISBN 978-5-699-43800-6 .

• Website with illustrations of Laurint & Klement models (in Czech)
• The article about Václav Clemente almost entirely devoted to the history of Laurint & Klement
• An article about Václav Laurin almost entirely devoted to the history of Laurint & Klement