Opel

History

Opel was founded in 1862 by Adam Opel in Russelsheim, Germany, as a manufacturer of sewing machines. The company expanded into bicycle production in 1886 and became the world's largest bicycle manufacturer by the 1890s. Automobile production began in 1899 with the Opel Patentmotorwagen System Lutzmann.

Opel became the first German automaker to use a moving assembly line, in 1924, producing the Opel 4 PS Laubfrosch (Tree Frog), which was the first German mass-produced car. General Motors acquired a majority stake in Opel in 1929 and full ownership in 1931, making Opel the European arm of GM for the next 86 years.

Under GM ownership, Opel was positioned as a mainstream European brand, producing models like the Kadett, the Ascona, the Rekord, and the Manta that were often rebadged as Vauxhalls in the UK and Holdens in Australia, and also served as the basis for some Chevrolet and Buick models in other markets. In 2017, Opel was sold to the PSA Group (now Stellantis), ending the GM era. Under Stellantis, Opel has adopted a new design language called Bold and Pure and is transitioning to an all-electric lineup.

[Note: Opel and Vauxhall are effectively the same brand with different names in different markets. Vauxhall is the UK-market brand, while Opel sells in most other European countries. Both operate as part of Stellantis.]

Innovations

Opel became the first German automaker to install a moving assembly line in 1924, reducing chassis assembly time from 400 hours to 13 hours for the Opel 4 PS Laubfrosch.

The Opel Kadett A (1962) was the first mass-produced German car with a seat belt mounting provision, though seat belts were not yet standard equipment. [Note: Saab introduced standard seat belts in 1958, but the Kadett was an early pioneer in German volume production for belt mounting points.]

Opel introduced the first production car with a completely galvanized body for corrosion resistance, the Opel Astra (1991), offering a 12-year rust perforation warranty that set a new standard in the industry.

The Opel Ampera (2011) was the European version of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle but was engineered and manufactured separately for the European market. It shared its Voltec powertrain with the Volt and was one of the early extended-range EVs in Europe.

Opel introduced the Adaptive Forward Lighting (AFL) system on the 2003 Vectra, which swiveled headlights in the direction of steering input, a technology that has since become common across premium and mainstream vehicles.

[Note: Opel claims several European firsts including the first three-way catalytic converter in a production European car (1985 Omega), though the technology itself originated in the US market.]