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Opel in Germany and Vauxhall in England
were takeover attempts by GM to establish themselves
as leading auto makers in those countries.
Opel GmbH is a German car manufacturer of long tradition,
being founded in 1863 by Adam Opel. Like many other
manufacturers, Opel started out with something other
than cars, in this case sewing machines and then bicycles.
In 1899 Adam Opel had already bought a car manufacturing
plant that belonged to Friedrich Lutzman. When Adam
passed away, his two sons dedicated themselves to building
cars for two more years with Lutzman before setting
out on their own. Their next partner in 1902 was the
French carriage maker Darracq, with Opel providing the
bodies. This partnership too came to an end in 1906
when Opel had enough expertise to make their own cars.
The first model had been introduced at the Hamburg Motor
Show in 1902. Beginning in 1907 cars were made at the
Opel plant in parallel with sewing machines, until a
devastating fire burned down the factory almost completely
in 1911.
When production resumed, car manufacture became the
main activity, and instead of sewing machines, Opel
started making motorcycles. In 1913 they had already
become the biggest car manufacturer in Germany. Except
Opel didn't stop there and in 1924 introduced the first
mass-production assembly line in Germany, the first
model to roll out being the Opel Laubfrosch (the Tree
Frog). By now Opel cars already had a reputation for
being cheap and reliable, a fact which helped the company
survive inflation and still maintain the title of the
biggest manufactor of cars in Germany until 1928. But
the depression was nearing and the Opel brothers were
now in search of a partner to help them push on. That
partner was the American GM who, in 1929, bought the
majority of shares but left Opel all the decision-making
when it came to car production.
By 1930 Opel was the largest manufacturer of cars in
Europe. That and the fact that its partnership with
GM gave it access to foreign markets made Opel the opportunity
to expand production further and launch new models like
the Opel Olympia, the first mass-produced car to have
an all-steel body and frame.
WWII was a hard time for the Opel factory and indeed
the whole company. The first car to roll out of the
factory after the war was the Blitz truck, and then,
much later, passenger car production resumed with the
Olympia. The factories weren't fully repaired until
1956 when Opel managed to produce its 2 millionth car.
Running at full capacity, Opel opened up a new plant
at Bochum where a new model, the Kadett, rolled out,
marking a whole new era for the German manufacturer.
Next, the line up was diversified to include something
for the sports car afficionados, the GT. Having made
these changes, Opel retained its title as biggest car
manufacturer in Germany in 1972.
Edited
from AutoEvolution, 2010
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A
sample of Opel literature available from
McLellan's Automotive History |
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