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While you might be tempted to think the RS badge on modern RS model Skodas is reasonably new, it's actually 40 years since the first Skoda RS appeared and the Czech company is keen to publicise that fact by having a little nostalgia-laden retrospective of the RS lineage.

Based on the rear-engined 110R coupé launched in 1970, the first RS Skodas were the 180 and 200 racing cars. Designed to compete in prestigious, higher-volume racing classes, they used either 1.8- or 2.0-litre engines (hence the 180 and 200 monikers), had a new trailing arm rear axle and a transmission developed by none other than Porsche. The 200 RS made a pretty special 163hp and could hit 130mph, with only three examples (two 200s, one 180) built in 1974. These competed in rallying, where they represented the first Skodas to participate in that code of motorsport.

So impressive was the RS experiment that a year later Skoda took the decision to build a car for general motorsport purposes. Thus the rear-wheel drive 130 RS was born, one of Skoda's most successful rally cars. It featured a smaller 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine with Weber carburettors, an eight-port cylinder head and dry-sump lubrication. With 140hp, the 130 RS could hit 137mph and earned itself the nickname of the 'Porsche of the East'.

In six years of competition, the 130 RS won the 1977 Monte Carlo Rally in the 'cars up to 1,300cc' category and also won the 1981 European Touring Car Championship, proving its versatility. It also won many rallies in its native Czechoslovakia, such as the Barum Rally, Bohemia Rally and the Sumava Rally.

After 130 RS production ceased in 1981, we had to wait until the year 2000 and the road-going Octavia vRS (badged RS in markets outside the UK), with its 180hp VAG 1.8 turbo engine, for the return of the hallowed letters. The Fabia vRS soon followed in 2003, bucking the market trend of the time by being a hot hatch that was powered by diesel. Its 1.9-litre 130hp engine saw it capable of 127mph and 0-62mph in 9.6 seconds.

Since then, we've had two more generations of Octavia vRS - the second gen from 2005-2013 with either 200hp petrol or 170hp diesel 2.0-litre engines, and the current car, the fastest Octavia yet (barring the Bonneville salt flats record holder) in 220hp TSI petrol guise with its 154mph top speed - and another Fabia vRS, this time powered by a 1.4-litre TSI petrol engine with 180hp. Capable of 0-62mph in 7.3 seconds and a top speed of 139mph, the Skoda RS line is clearly in the rudest of health.

Anything else?

"Our RS models are sporty power machines for the Skoda brand," said CEO Prof. Dr. h.c. Winfried Vahland. "This is just as true today as it was 40 years ago. The RS initials denote Skoda's successes in motorsport as well as the high performance and passion represented by select production models. They are an expression of our outstanding motorsport tradition."