UPDATE 1-VW's Skoda 2007 car sales rise 14.5 pct to record

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PRAGUE Jan 15 (Reuters) - Volkswagen's (VOWG.DE) Czech Skoda unit said on Tuesday global sales of its cars rose 14.5 percent to a record last year, beating its own forecasts, thanks mostly to its best-seller Octavia model and new Roomster MPV.

Skoda, the Czech Republic's largest company and its biggest single exporter with annual revenues equal to 7.1 billion euros ($10.56 billion) in 2006, sold 630,032 vehicles last year. It originally targeted sales of 616,000, and aims to reach an annual output of 1 million cars by 2010.

Skoda, fully owned by the German carmaker, said market share in its biggest market, western Europe, grew to 2.2 percent last year with sales of about 327,000 cars. It gave no comparison figures for market share in the previous year.

Skoda's flagship Octavia model range was its best seller, with sales rising more than 18 percent to nearly 240,000 vehicles. Skoda also sold almost 73,000 first-generation Octavia Tours, up 4.6 percent from a year ago.

Skoda said it sold 67,000 Roomster MPVs, which it launched in mid-2006. But sales of its Fabia model fell to some 233,000 units due to the launch of a second-generation Fabia Hatchback last year.

Skoda has been a success story for Volkswagen since Europe's largest carmaker acquired it in April 1991. (Reporting by Marek Petrus; editing by Sue Thomas)