"The main reason behind this trend is the overall decline in the passenger car markets of China and Central Europe," Skoda said.

Deliveries in China dropped 11.7 percent and central European shipments dropped 11.6 percent, mainly due to a 19.7 percent drop on the Czech market.

It said west European shipments rose 6.2 percent, led by Germany with an 8.1 percent rise, while Russia jumped 23 percent.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka)