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Adam Opel GmbH
Type	Private (subsidiary of General Motors)
Founded	1863
Headquarters	Rüsselsheim, Germany
Industry	Automotive
Products	Automobile
Parent	General Motors Corporation
Slogan	Fresh Thinking, Better Cars
Website	http://www.opel.com

Adam Opel GmbH (commonly known as Opel) is an automobile manufacturer based in Rüsselsheim,Germany. The company was founded on January 21, 1863, and began making automobiles in 1899. Opel was acquired by General Motors in 1929 and continues as a subsidiary. Opel is GM's largest European brand and with Vauxhall forms GM's core European business.

Contents 1 Early history 1.1 General Motors takeover 1.2 Events 2 Opel worldwide 2.1 Opel in Europe 3 Highlights 4 Opel models 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

The company was founded on January 21, 1863 by Adam Opel, and at first made household goods, and was a major maker 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. They made their first cars in 1898 having bought the rights to the Lutzmann and sold them as Opel-Lutzmann. However, two years later, following the dissolution of the partnership, Opel's son signed a licensing agreement with Automobiles Darracq S.A. of France 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 motor cycles. 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 dollars from the transaction.

• 1863 – Opel founded by Adam Opel.
• 1902 – Designs first shown at the Hamburg Motor Show.
• 1906 – Cars first made to their own designs.
• 1907 – Opel-Darracq shuts down.
• 1911 – The factory destroyed.
• 1913 – Opel is the largest automobile company in Germany.
• 1929 – General Motors buys 80% of the company in March.
• 1931 – General Motors increases this to 100%.
• 1971 – Opel launched in Asia.
• 2005 – Started cooperation with Saturn Corporation.
• 2006 – Opel Japan shuts down in December.

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 Australasia, Saturn in North America,in India and Chevrolet in Latin America. Its Zafira people carrier was sold in Japan badged as a Subaru Traviq, while the Omega was briefly sold in the US as the Cadillac Catera. Other models sold in the U.S., but slightly modified, include the Saturn L-Series, Chevrolet Malibu and Cobalt. The majority of future Saturn models are expected to be either identical, like the Saturn Astra and Sky, or closely based, like the Aura and 2008 Saturn Vue, to European Opels. The Pontiac LeMans (1989-1994), which was the first car produced by Daewoo in South Korea for export to North America, were based on the Opel Kadett E (now Astra).

Opels appeared under their own name in the U.S. 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.^[1] (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 will reportedly be withdrawn by the end of 2006 with just 1,800 sales there in 2005.

Opel is the main GM brand name in Europe except in the UK, where GM's other European subsidiary, Vauxhall Motors, still uses its own brand name. Vauxhall's models were completely different designs from those of Opel, until the 1970s. The Opel name largely disappeared from the UK in 1981 after Vauxhall and Opel dealerships were merged, with only the Manta and the Monza (the coupe version of the Senator) being sold as Opels, until they were discontinued in 1988 and 1987 respectively.

Vauxhall began adopting Opel's names for its models, with the exception of 'Kadett' which was replaced by Astra, already used by Vauxhall, in 1991. In other right hand drive markets in Europe like Ireland, Cyprus and Malta, the main GM brand name is now Opel, and for many years, Opel's Ireland brand sponsored the Republic's football team, using the slogan 'Ireland's Number One Supporter'. However, many Vauxhall cars, imported second hand from the UK, are still sold in Ireland as a parallel import.

Some have suggested that the Vauxhall name should be dropped in the UK in favour of Opel, thereby harmonising GM's marketing strategy across Europe. However, Vauxhall has rejected this, on the grounds that its brand is well known, and fleet buyers, who are its main customer base, insisted that Opel models be rebadged as Vauxhalls. Opel will also provide design and engineering to the American Saturn marque, similar to the Vauxhall situation in the UK.

The company headquarters are located in Rüsselsheim, and it has plants in Bochum and Eisenach and Kaiserslautern as well as in Belgium, Spain, Poland and Hungary. Opel cars are also made in Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant in the United Kingdom.

In October 2004 employees went on strike for six days due to the threat of 12,000 job losses. The threat was due to the unprofitable European markets because of low customer demand. The strike had a major impact on production.

In 2005, the new Opel Astra Diesel Hybrid appeared.

In 2006, the Azambuja, Portugal factory shut down and the production of the Opel Combo transferred to Zaragoza, Spain. The move prompted a national boycott movement and caused the Portuguese Government to sue General Motors.

• Safetec is a warp resistant passenger compartment. Constructs built into the front and back absorb the energy of low speed collisions. Sturdy metal doors complete the system.

v • d • e Opel GmbH (Category | Vehicles)
Passenger	Agila • Antara • Astra • Corsa • GT • Meriva • Signum • Tigra • Vectra • Zafira
LCV	Combo • Movano • Vivaro
Concept	Opel Gran Turismo Concept • Aero GT • Antara GTC • CD • Diesel Rekordwagen • Eco Speedster • Frogster • Frua Diplomat • G90 • GT 2 • Insignia • Maxx • OPC X-Treme • Snowtrekker • Trixx
Historic	Admiral • Ascona • Blitz • Calibra • Campo • Commodore • Diplomat • Frontera • GT • Kadett • Kapitän • Manta • Monterey • Monza • Olympia • Omega • Rekord • Senator • Sintra • Speedster • Super Six

This section seems to be an image gallery. Please help by moving freely licensed images to Wikimedia Commons, possibly creating a gallery of the same name if one does not already exist. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions.

Opel 1,8 Liter Serie 18 B Cabriolet 1931	Opel 1,8 Liter Serie 18 B Cabriolet 1931	Opel 1,8 Liter Serie 18 B 4-Door Limousine 1931	Opel 1,8 Liter Serie 18 B 4-Door Limousine 1931
Opel Standard Special Coach 1935	Opel 2 Liter 4-Door Limousine	Opel 2 Liter 4-Door Limousine 1936	Opel 2 Liter Pullman-Limousine 1936
Opel P4 Limousine	Opel P4 Limousine 1937	Opel Kadett Limousine 1937	Opel Olympia Cabrio-Limousine 1937
Opel Kadett Limousine 1938	Opel Olympia De Luxe 2-Door Limousine 1939	Opel Olympia De Luxe 4-Door Limousine 1939	Opel Kapitän Cabriolet 1939
Opel Kapitän De Luxe 4-Door Limousine 1939	Opel Rekord Cabrio-Limousine 1955	Opel Kapitän R 1955	Opel Bus
Opel Rekord 2-Door Sedan 1958	Opel Kapitän P 1959	Opel Rekord 1700 2-Door Sedan 1961	Opel Rekord 1700 2-Dörrars Sedan 1962
Opel Rekord 2-Door Sedan 1966	Opel Rekord C, 1.7 L, 4-Door Sedan 1968	Opel Commodore Coupé 1969

OnStar Active Head Restraints Active Carbon Filter Adaptive Forward Lighting (AFL) Air Quality Sensor (AQS) Automatic Lighting Control (ALC) Auto Lock Brake Assist Brake Assist Cam-Phase / Continuous Variable Camshaft Phasing CAN-Bus (Controller Area Network) Cellular Phone Console Continuous Damping Control (CDC) Crashbox Databus Deflation Detection System (DDS) Double-DIN Format

Easytronic Electronic Climate Control (ECC) Electro Hydraulic Power Steering (EHPS) Electronic Stability Program (ESP Plus) Flex7 Seating System FlexOrganizer System Follow-me-home Function Head Curtain Airbags Hill-Start-Assist (HSA) Interactive Driving System (IDS) Integrated Chassis Control (ICC) Muffin Tin Design Nivomat / Automatic Levelling System Open & Start, a keyless driving authorization system Opel GT Opel Speedster Parkpilot Pedal Release System (PRS) Safetec

1. ^ Information on the history of these cars, and sources for parts and technical information for these US Opels is available at www.opelclub.com and www.opelgt.com.

The external links in this article may not comply with Wikipedia's content policies. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links.

• Opel's Corporate Website
• Opel at the Open Directory Project
• Glossary of Opel Technology and Innovations.
• Opel (German)
• Oficial Opel dealer in Latvia

v • d • e Automotive marques of General Motors

Buick • Cadillac • Chevrolet • GMC • Holden • Hummer • Opel • Pontiac • Saab • Saturn • Vauxhall Affiliates GM Daewoo (50.9%) • Suzuki (3%) • Wuling (34%) Defunct marques Acadian (1962-1971) • Asüna (1992-1995) • Beaumont (1966-1969) • Bedford Vehicles (1930-1986) • Geo (1989-1997) • LaSalle (1927-1940) • Marquette (1929-1930) • Oakland (1907-1931) • Oldsmobile (1897-2004) • Passport (1988-1991) • Ranger (1968-1976) • Statesman (1971-1985) • Viking (1929-1931)

	Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors, road car timeline, 1947-1979  v • d • e																												Next ->
Type	1940s			1950s										1960s										1970s
	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Small family car																Kadett A				Kadett B								Kadett C
	Olympia							Olympia Rekord													Olympia A
Large family car												Rekord PI			Rekord PII										Ascona A					Ascona B
Executive car																	Rekord A		Rekord B		Rekord C					Rekord D					Rekord E
		Kapitän						Kapitän				Kapitän PI/PII									Commodore A					Commodore B					Comdr C
Luxury car																			Kapitän A/ Admiral A/ Diplomat A					Kapitän B/ Admiral B/ Diplomat B								Senator/ Monza
Coupé/ Roadster																						GT
																								Manta I						Manta II

v • d • e Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors, road car timeline, 1980s-present
Type	1980s										1990s										2000s
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Supermini				Corsa A										Corsa B								Corsa C						Corsa D
Small family car	Kadett C	Kadett D					Kadett E						Astra F							Astra G						Astra H
Large family car	Ascona B		Ascona C							Vectra A								Vectra B						Vectra C					Insignia
																								Signum
Executive car	Rekord E/Commodore C								Omega A							Omega B
Luxury car	Senator A/Monza								Senator B
Sports																Tigra										Tigra TwinTop
	Manta B											Calibra									Speedster							GT
Mini MPV																						Agila A						Agila B
																							Meriva A						Meriva B
Compact MPV																					Zafira A						Zafira B
Large MPV																		Sintra
SUV													Frontera A							Frontera B								Antara
														Monterey
LCVs																Combo A						Combo B
																					Arena					Vivaro
																				Movano