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"The fall of the Soviet Union left many vehicle manufacturers floundering in the Brave New World of global capitalism. But American money and South Korean know-how is propelling Avia onto the world stage. Colin Barnett reports.
Consider these words: "One year ago, nobody would have bet a dollar on Avia's future. It looked like being a rare Czech failure." No, they weren't uttered by some doom-mongering industry analyst or cynical journalist. Instead the source is Martin Jahn, Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (who, incidentally, holds the post despite not belonging to any political party).
To understand where Avia is today, a brief history lesson is called for.
Founded in 1919 by Miroslav Hajn and Pavel Benes, Avia produced commercial aircraft until the early 1960s when it built its last Avia 14, a licensed version of the Ilyushin Il-14 "Crate" cargo plane.
The company began truck production at the end of the Second World War. It continued making Avias until 1995, when 95% of the by-then privatised company was acquired by the South Korean Daewoo group. Daewoo planned to develop a modern light truck but in 2000, soon after the launch of the all-new D-line, Avia's Korean parent collapsed.
This ruled out much needed investment in the D75 and D90 model line-up - in fact the company's survival is a minor miracle, given...