Czech carmaker Skoda Auto boosted production by 9.3 percent and customer deliveries by 12.6 percent in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in 2006, the company said on Friday.

Central and Eastern Europe's biggest car manufacturer made 448,400 vehicles and delivered 462,400, it added. It is currently seeking ways of increasing production, for example by producing some cars at Volkswagen's Bratislava plant in neighbouring Slovakia, taking advantage of spare capacity there.

The pre-tax result for the first nine months of the year climbed by 39.3 percent to 14.8 billion koruna (545.4 million euros, 783.3 million dollars) on turnover of 161.6 billion koruna for the company which is part of the Volkswagen Group, Skoda added.