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Czech car maker Skoda Auto is considering entering the US market, the German business daily Handelsblatt wrote this week. The move comes as its German owner Volkswagen attempts to retrieve sales lost in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal in the US.

One of the top business schools in the world, Switzerland’s IMD, has recently completed its annual competitiveness rankings of countries around the world. And the good news for the Czech Republic is that it has once again improved its performance and climbed up the rankings of the respected survey.

Czech swimming pool retailers see a growing demand in private swimming pools, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported on Friday. The Czech Republic already belongs among Europe’s leaders in terms of number of private pools per head, but experts say the market has not dried up yet. At the moment, approximately every third Czech house has a swimming pool in its backyard, and the figures are expected to grow.

One of the Czech Republic’s engineering icons, the Prague-based ČKD group is, according to many media reports, facing serious problems.

The use of crowdfunding to get various projects off the ground has grown increasingly popular in Czech Republic, according to Czech Radio. Last year alone, Czechs pledged almost 46 million crowns on two of the country’s most popular crowdfunding sites – twice as much as in 2014.

Czech exports to the United States have grown rapidly in the past three years, approaching the 100 billion crown mark for the first time ever, according to the Czech Statistics Office. This makes the US the country’s biggest export partner outside the EU and the most dynamically growing market for the Czech Republic regarding mutual trade.

Former PM Jiří Rusnok has been setting out his vision for the role of governor of the Czech National Bank, which he will fill from the start of July. In an extensive interview for Czech Television, the economist said the central bank would likely announce when it was ending currency interventions and that the time was not yet right for euro adoption.

Czech consumers are spending record sums on furniture, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported on Friday. According to the Association of Czech Furniture Makers, Czechs spent some 35 billion crowns on furniture last year, which is three billion more than in 2014. Experts expect the figures to rise even higher in the future.

Czech brewing jewel Plzeňský Prazdroj is going up for sale. That’s the result of the go ahead from the European Commission to the massive worldwide beer deal under which global market leader InBev acquires its nearest rival SABMiller. Plzeňský Prazdroj has been in the hands of South Africa’s SAB since 1999.

Czech company Homeport, which operates a bike sharing scheme in 18 countries in the world, is planning to launch its services in Prague, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported on Wednesday.