Škoda’s Slavia B concept motorbike crowns the company's series of re-imagined classic designs

Way back at the dawn of the automotive age, pioneering Bohemian engineers Václav Laurin and Václav Klement set up a company to make motorcycles and bicycles. One of their earliest and most innovative models was the Slavia B, a very early motorcycle that represented a substantial advance in the genre, giving Laurin & Klement an enviable reputation.

That undoubtedly helped their firm on the path to become Austria-Hungary’s largest car manufacturer after car-making began in 1905. Two decades later, Laurin & Klement was acquired by the Škoda Works, the industrial conglomerate founded by Emil Škoda in 1859. From 1925 onwards, the carmaker was known as Škoda Auto.

Understandably, Škoda of 2025 wants the world to know a bit more about these early days of innovation. The Slavia B concept is the company’s way of buffing up its motorcycle heritage and deepening its ‘passion for design’, as well as highlighting its little-known heritage.

An all-electric café racer, the contemporary Slavia B was penned by French exterior stylist Romain Bucaille, a distraction from his usual four-wheeled focus. The company’s ‘Modern Solid’ design language is showcased by the concept’s clean, flat surfaces, strongly contrasting colours and a simple, almost abstracted form.

Will Škoda head back towards two wheels? That’s uncertain. What we do know is that the Slavia B concept is one of a line of reimagined Škoda classics (an approach recently taken by Renault and Hyundai, amongst others).

Late last year, the VW Group-owned company showed renderings of an update of the 60s-era 1203 van and there have also been fresh takes on the 200 RS rally car from the 1970s and the very first four-wheeler, the 1905 Laurin & Klement Voiturette A, part of what Škoda calls the 'Icons Get a Makeover' series.

Subtle details refer to the company’s early history, from Václav Laurin’s mastery of motorbike geometry and balance to the Slavia B’s successful sporting career. The motorbike went on to win the 1901 Paris–Berlin race, ridden by Narcis Podsedníček, and the integrated leather tool bag is a homage to this achievement.

Škoda Slavia B, concept only, Skoda.co.uk, Skoda-Storyboard.com, @Skodagram