Skoda Auto sponsors 2012 Tour de France

Skoda Auto has announced that it will sponsor the upcoming 2012 Tour de France bicycle racing championship as a part of its sales and marketing initiatives. Skoda will have a fleet of 110 vehicles that will be commissioned for the Tour de France. The fleet will include the entire Skoda line-up from the Citigo to the Superb. While most of these cars will act as the support / escort vehicles during the races, a red Skoda Superb assigned for the Tour Director, Christian Prudhomme, is expected participate in most of the marketing and promotional activities.  

The Tour de France, with its top-class cycling, attracts fifteen million people along its route and about two billion TV viewers throughout the world. The Tour de France will start with the traditional prologue in the Belgian town of Liège on June 30, 2012. On July 22, after having covered 3,479 kilometers, the riders will reach the finish line on the Paris Boulevard of Champs-Elysées. 

“With it vigor and its wide audience appeal, this sport is a perfect match for the ŠKODA brand,” according to Jürgen Stackmann. Besides ice-hockey, cycling is the most important pillar of ŠKODA’s sponsoring strategy. That also includes the commitment to cycling as a mass sport. For example, the manufacturer supports the Czech event ‘Cycling for Life’ as well as the ‘Velothon’ held in the German capital of Berlin.