automobile opel
Adam Opel GmbH is a German automaker. The company was founded on
21 January 1863, and began making automobiles in 1899. Opel was
acquired by General Motors Corporation in 1929 and will continue
as a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation officially under the
consortium led by Magna International of Canada, Sberbank of Russia,
and General Motors Corporation. As part of GM Europe, Opel is GM's
largest European brand and, along with Vauxhall Motors in the UK,
it forms GM's core European business.
On May 30, 2009, it was announced that a deal had been reached to
transfer GM's Opel assets to a separate company majority-owned by
a consortium led by Sberbank of Russia (35%), Magna International
of Canada (20%), and Opel employees (10%). GM is expected to keep
a 35% minority stake in the new company.
History
The company was founded on 21 January 1863 by Adam Opel, and at
first made household goods and became a major producer of sewing
machines. The founder died in 1895, with his company the leader
in European sewing machines sales and producing over 2,000 bicycles
yearly. The first cars were produced in 1898 having bought the
rights to the Lutzmann and sold then as Opel-Lutzmann. However,
two years later, following the dissolution of the partnership,
Opel's son signed a licensing agreement with the French Automobiles
Darracq S.A. to manufacture vehicles under the brand name "Opel-Darracq".
The vehicles were Opel bodies mounted on a Darracq chassis, powered
by a 2-cylinder engine.
In 1906 they started to make cars to their own design which they
had first shown in 1902 at the Hamburg Motor Show and from 1907
stopped making the Opel-Darracqs.
In 1911 the factory was virtually destroyed by fire and a new
one was built with more up to date machinery and the manufacture
of sewing machines dropped. Production now consisted of bicycles,
cars and motorcycles. By 1913 they were the largest car maker
in Germany.
In March 1929 General Motors bought 80% of the company; increasing
this to 100% in 1931. The Opel family gained $33.3 million from
the transaction.
Opel worldwide
Many cars sold by General Motors worldwide are Opel designs, including
such models as the Corsa, Astra, Vectra and Omega. Opel models
are also sold under other GM brand names, such as Vauxhall in
the UK, Holden in Australia and New Zealand, Saturn or Pontiac
in North America, and Chevrolet in Latin America. Its Zafira people
carrier was sold in Japan badged as a Subaru Traviq, while the
Omega was sold in the US as the Cadillac Catera for model years
1997 to 2001. Other models sold in the US, but slightly modified,
include the Saturn L-Series, Chevrolet Malibu and Cobalt. The
majority of future Saturn models are expected to be either identical
to (like the Saturn Astra and Sky) or closely based on (like the
Aura and 2008 Saturn Vue) European Opels. The Pontiac LeMans (1989-1994)
– the first car produced by Daewoo in South Korea for export to
North America – was based on the Opel Kadett E (now Astra).
Opels appeared under their own name in the USA from 1958 to 1975,
when they were sold through Buick dealers as captive imports.
The best-selling Opel models in the US were the 1964-1972 Opel
Kadett, the 1971-1975 Opel Manta, and the now-classic 1968-1973
Opel GT. (The name "Opel" was also applied from 1976
to 1980 on vehicles manufactured by Isuzu (similar to the "Isuzu
I-mark"), but mechanically those were entirely different
cars).
Opel was long General Motors' strongest marque in Japan, with
sales peaking at 38,000 in 1996. However, the brand has diminished
in the decade since, and was withdrawn at the end of 2006 with
just 1,800 sales there in 2005.
In some markets outside Europe, the Opel brand name has been used
on other GM products, for example, the Chevrolet Blazer was sold
in Indonesia as the Opel Blazer, while in the mid-1990s, a version
of the Holden Commodore was sold as the Opel Calais in Malaysia
and Singapore.
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