(ANSA) - BELGRADE, 20 MAR - The Czech carmaker Skoda Auto sold a total of 1,253,700 vehicles to customers in 2018, "setting a new sales record for the fifth year in a row," Skoda said in a statement today. Deliveries to customers rose by 4.4% in annual terms last year, with sales growth recorded both in Europe (+4.9%) and in other important markets as China (+4.9%) and Russia (+30.7%), Skoda added. Skoda Auto is the top Czech exporter and invested more than 500 million euros directly in plants and facilities in the Czech Republic in 2018, Radio Prague informed today. (ANSA).