Skoda celebrates solstice

Skoda has come up with a unique way to celebrate the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, which of course also marks the shortest day of the year in Australia, where the Winter Solstice took place at precisely 9.09am EST today (June 21).

'Citihenge' is an ambitious recreation of the UK’s famed Stonehenge monument, created entirely from 100 per cent recyclable cars in less than 12 hours on London’s Southbank.

The installation is the work of sculptor Tommy Gun, whose design team took three months to create the five-metre-tall artwork using 18 scrap cars.

“The Citihenge project has been the most amazing challenge,” he said.

“Stonehenge is a huge, iconic structure and the Citihenge replica is too. It is made entirely from old car parts, which taps into my own childhood growing up on a farm where I used to love building and creating things with pieces of discarded machinery,” Mr Gun stated.

The centrepiece of the attraction is a new Skoda – in this case the Czech brand’s all-new Citigo micro-hatch that will open the Skoda range from about $14,000 early next year in Australia.

Skoda says the cars used in the clever construction, which comprises no less than 36 tonnes of steel, have racked up a cumulative mileage of more than three million kilometres and was engineered to withstand force 12 hurricane winds.

It said the striking replica of Wiltshire’s iconic Stonehenge, which was commissioned specifically to coincide with the Citigo’s UK launch, provides an urban meeting point for Britons to mark the Summer Solstice.

“Citihenge symbolises the beginning of a new era of motoring and we hope drivers across the country will recognise this important turning point,” said overly effusive Skoda spokesperson Pietro Panarisi.

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