Václav Laurin, mechanic and Václav Klement, bookseller began to manufacture Slavia bicycles 1895. Within a few years, in 1899, they started to produce motorcycles. 1905 came the first car Voiturette. They merged with the company Skoda from Pilsen 1925 and the name Laurin & Klement disappeared. During the Word War II Skoda became a part of the german group Hermann-Göring-Werke and had to convert fully onto military production. The company was nationalised after the war and got monoply on passenger car production. 1946 started the production on Skoda 1101/1102 Tudor that was based on pre-war technology. Skoda's cars become more and more outdated until 1987 when the Skoda 781 Favorit started to be produced. The Skoda car manufacturing was bought by Volkswagen 1991. The successor of Skoda Favorit, Skoda Felicia came 1994, and 1996 came Skoda Octavia.