OPINION: Mills on ... Skoda.(advertising strategy)(Editorial)

Imagine you went into Fortnum and Mason and found that the grocer by appointment to foodies, snobs and residents of Mayfair was selling Kwik Save own-label baked beans. It would be a bit of a shock. Either the world had turned upside down, you'd conclude, or Kwik Save was now the brand du jour.

That's pretty much how I felt when I heard that HR Owen, the car dealership best known for selling Rolls-Royces and Bentleys to Arabs, film stars and admen who made their fortunes in the 80s, was now selling Skodas.

I know Skoda has come a long way in the past three years, but that far?

But then again, why not? If it's not exactly the brand du jour in motoring terms, thanks to some serious re-engineering of its cars under the benign ownership of Volkswagen and inspired marketing and advertising, Skoda is certainly hot. Since 1999, when the marque was relaunched, sales have increased by more than 50 per cent to 36,000 cars a year, and market share has risen by a third.

Four years on, Skoda has clearly decided to capitalise on this remarkable about-turn in its fortunes to take a big step upmarket with the launch of its latest model, the grandly named Skoda Superb (Class! Cut the sniggering).

Now some might think the idea of Skoda calling one of its cars the Superb was, if not a contradiction in terms, an invitation to derision. I suspect that Fallon, whose advertising has done so much to remove the stigma from the marque, would not have recommended this name. But apparently it has history: back in the 30s Skoda had a luxury model called the Superb and the Czechs back at head office in Mlada Boleslav obviously feel the hand of destiny. So the Superb it is and, judging by the reviews in the motoring press, the name - if not 100 per cent accurate - is not as misplaced as it might be.

Make no mistake, however, the Superb represents a big leap into the unknown ...