If I lived to be 5,000 years old, I think I’d still be learning things about cars built before I was old enough to be able to drive. The mass production of the automobile was probably humanity’s defining industrial achievement for at least the first half of the 20th century. For instance, for all my love of Škoda, I had no idea why the Favorit looks like the Favorit.
As a company founded in then-Czechoslovakia, the automaker we now know as VW-owned subsidiary Škoda was limited for many years by its position behind the Iron Curtain. While not technically a part of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia was stuck with a Soviet-style planned economy and limited access to outside markets.
Aware that the company’s old, RWD platforms were highly limited when compared to any modern car from a Western automaker, Škoda embarked in 1982 on a quest to build a competitive, FWD car in the mold of a Volkswagen Golf.
The result was the Favorit, a car that went into production in 1987 and showed that the automaker was capable of more than the same re-heated models it had been building for decades. Even with the limitations of the planned economy, Škoda was able to access help from European firms to make its car something worth buying, as the company explains:
The renowned studio Stile Bertone from Turin was responsible for designing the hatchback model and other body variants derived from it – from the notchback saloon to an estate and pick-up version. The design of the new vehicle was in the hands of ŠKODA experts, but the Czech company also enlisted the expertise of foreign specialists such as Porsche. For example, the sports car manufacturer provided support for the engine suspension and front axle geometry, and also shared its experience in optimising the interior noise.
By the standards of Iron Curtain vehicles, the Favorit was a hit, and when the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989 saw the end of Communist rule, it helped attract the attention of Volkswagen, which quickly acquired the company as its budget-friendly brand.
While it may not quite have the familiarity in the United States that models like the Golf or Escort had, there’s enough equity in the nameplate that Škoda decided to get designer Ljudmil Slavov to take a crack at a modern version as a design exercise.
These are just renders of what I assume is a Renault R5-like rebirth of a classic model. It looks attractive and definitely evokes the Favorit, especially with the headlights. That’s not a coincidence, as the press release about the redesign explains:
One of the concept’s standout features is its headlight design, a clever nod to the original model. In the late 1980s, even the acclaimed Bertone design house grappled with integrating the large, mass-produced headlamps made in Czechoslovakia at the time. Despite their size, these lights had to be seamlessly incorporated into the car’s design.
In keeping with this tradition, Slavov invested considerable thought into reimagining the headlights for today. His solution features ultra-slim LED strips at the front and rear, set behind semi-transparent covers that mirror the size and volume of the original lamps. “These covers allow the lights to project different patterns, which owners could personalise,” Slavov says.
That’s hilarious. Bertone probably had an idea for a smaller headlight in the design to compete with the Giorgietto-designed Golf or even something like the Nissan Sunny/Sentra. Instead, it had to deal with a large headlight because that’s all the Czechoslovakians could make. You can see the basic design for the light in the Skoda Rapid 135, which predates the Favorit by a couple of years:
That’s just a really large, flat bulb.
The way the stylists from Bertone got around this is actually quite clever:
As you can see in this close-up, the actual headlight itself is a big flat piece similar to what’s in the Rapid above. In fact, they’re probably the same design. And like the Rapid, it has a separate amber turn signal. The difference here is that there’s a much larger headlight assembly that protrudes from the lens itself, giving it a bit of shape and style. The turn signal is also an amber bulb that loses the Rapid’s amber lens.
Once someone explains that the headlights are big because they had to be big, you can’t ignore it. They are a little large for the car. That all being said, it’s also what makes the Favorit kind of charming, right? The version of this without the big headlights is probably something like the Renault 19, which is altogether a forgettable car.
I love the big headlights. It’s like the Gurney Bubble on the Ford GT40. It had to be there because it had to be there, but now it’s hard to imagine one without it.
When I saw the pic for this article I thought we were going to be talking about the Lada 2109, the resemblance is uncanny. My grandparents on both sides of the family each had a 2109, one that was bought new in Ukraine in 1989 and one that was bought new in 2003. They were absolutely identical, which is hilarious considering how far apart they were built.
Nobody has said about the “massive” headlamps on Volvo 240s, which were probably the largest ever fitted to the passenger car.
Larger the headlamps are, less glare they produce.
Love the trivia of Bertone’s involvement! I wonder if the same thing can be done in the US, like Stellantis making an entry level family car out of an old Opel platform with excess Charger headlights
The Favorit always reminded me of the Volvo 345.
The Favorit was probably the most important car in Skoda’s history.
While just a (very decent) compact as far as cars go, it was the main reason for Volkswaggen to look into buying them.
Then there was the “Favorit reviewed by VW” – the ad was cute, it was a Favorit with 2200 minuscule German flags on suction cups, indicating what was retouched/changed by Volkswaggen. Then came the Felicia, which was a leap ahead. Then came the models based on bona fide VW platforms, and the rest is history.
I believe they were also the first to put umbrella (full size umbrellas) holders inside the doors, way back in the 90’s, on the Superb.
Nowadays “Umbrella in Door” returns only Rolls Royce results, not sure if they invented it.
Add the windshield fluid cap that becomes a funnel, and so on, and so on. Plenty of little smart tricks.
I dig the lights. Faired-in lights are almost always cool on any car IMO (especially Citroens). I also dig those huge ‘cinder block’ headlights on the final years of the Volvo 240. Those things are weirdly massive, and I just think they look good on that car’s squared-off nose, though I’m not opposed to any of the (at least) four other/different headlights Volvo employed for 240s during its 19-year production run.
I wasn’t familiar at all with the Favorit, and only have a vague knowledge of Skodas overall, mostly just a passing familiarity of their versions of various Euro-market VW offerings. Their wagons tend to look a bit better than the VW cars on which they’re based (IMO).
Of course I think that Skoda Rapid 135 is the cat’s pajamas, looking like a scaled-down Citroen Traction Avant. I want one! 😀
Skoda 130RS for me, thanks 🙂
If we’re talking outsized headlights, the 2013-15 Chevy Spark needs to make the list. Huge taillights, too.
That’s true!
Oddly (or probably not, at this point) I think the Chevy Spark, which was made by S. Korea’s Daewoo of course (they called it the Matiz in their home market according to Wikipedia), came with a manual, and is an appealing little car for the price/what it was. I’ve never driven one, but I’ve watched a few videos about it, including this one from Youtube’s Regular Car Reviews entitled “Accidentally Good” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnRvG37CpkE The Spark EV is supposed to be really fun to drive too, but I think they suffer from rather rapid battery/range degradation, much like EV Kia Souls and some other entry-level/first-gen EVs. I wonder if anyone makes replacement/higher capacity battery packs for the Spark or Soul… as is now starting to happen with the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 (though I’ve read mixed reports about those replacement packs too).
They sold the Spark for quite a while… maybe there was a mid-cycle facelift? I seem to recall the headlights being bigger than the one on the 2020 model in the video (or maybe I’m thinking of Chevy’s Sonic?). I kind of thought they seemed to go back almost to the base of the A pillar, but maybe I’m just misremembering since changing the size of the headlights would require different tooling for the hood and/or front fenders, which seems beyond what usually happens during a mid-cycle refresh.
In any case, it’s an entertaining review as almost all RCR reviews are, and he (Brian, I think?) seems to like the car a lot for what it is. I think it was three years old when this video was made, and he noted that there was already a little rust here and there, but it was an east coast car where the roads get salted. One from someplace sunny year-round oughtn’t have that problem.
PS: my toaster died this morning for some unknown reason. So I tried to ‘toast’ my sourdough using the burner on the gas stove, which works fine for tortillas. But apparently not for regular bread, which mostly just sort of burns and doesn’t get crispy at all. 🙁
I’m off to the Pasadena City College flea market this morning (which is great btw… the best in LA IMO) and after that, I’m going to look at an ’89 Volvo 245 (wagon/manual, with AC, passed smog, in silver, and about 170Kmiles). I saw the car (online) a month or two ago and liked it, though it looked a bit rough at his asking price. Now that the car is ready to show, he’s asking 50% more than before, so we’ll see how it looks/goes now… 🙂