Opel

History

1862–1898

The company was founded in Rüsselsheim, Hesse, Germany, on 21 January 1862, by Adam Opel. In the beginning, Opel produced sewing machines. Opel launched a new product in 1886: he began to sell high-wheel bicycles, also known as penny-farthings. Opel's two sons participated in high-wheel bicycle races, thus promoting this means of transportation. In 1888, production was relocated from a cowshed to a more spacious building in Rüsselsheim. The production of high-wheel bicycles soon exceeded the production of sewing machines. At the time of Opel's death in 1895, he was the leader in both markets.

1898–1920

The first cars were designed in 1898 after Opel's widow Sophie and their two eldest sons entered into a partnership with Friedrich Lutzmann, a locksmith at the court in Dessau in Saxony-Anhalt, who had been working on automobile designs for some time. The first Opel production Patent Motor Car was built in Rüsselsheim early 1899, although these cars were not very successful (A total of 65 motor cars were delivered: eleven in 1899, twenty-four in 1900 and thirty in 1901) and the partnership was dissolved after two years, following which Opel signed a licensing agreement in 1901 with the French Automobiles Darracq France to manufacture vehicles under the brand name Opel Darracq. These cars consisted of Opel bodies mounted on Darracq chassis, powered by two-cylinder engines.

The company first showed cars of its design at the 1902 Hamburg Motor Show. Production began in 1906, with the licensed Opel Darracq version discontinued in 1907.

In 1909, the Opel 4/8 PS model, known as the Doktorwagen (lit. 'Doctor's Car') was produced. Its reliability and robustness were appreciated by physicians, who drove long distances to see their patients back when hard-surfaced roads were still rare. The Doktorwagen sold for only 3,950 marks, about half as much as the luxury models of its day.

The company's factory was destroyed by fire in 1911, and a new facility was built with more up-to-date machinery.

Opel's cars were initially tested on public roads, leading to complaints about noise and road damage. Under public pressure, Opel began construction of a test oval in 1917. The track was completed in 1919, but not open to the public until 24 October 1920 under the official name of Opel-Rennbahn (Opel Race Track).

1920–1939

In the early 1920s, Opel became the first German car manufacturer to build automobiles with a mass-production assembly line. In 1924, they used their assembly line to produce a new open two-seater called the Laubfrosch (Tree frog). The Laubfrosch was finished exclusively in green lacquer. The car sold for an expensive 3,900 marks (expensive considering the less expensive manufacturing process), but by the 1930s, this type of vehicle would cost a mere 1,930 marks – due in part to the assembly line, but also due to the skyrocketing demand for cars. Adam Opel led the way for motorised transportation to become not just a means for the rich, but also a reliable way for people of all classes to travel.

Opel had a 37.5% market share in Germany and was the country's largest automobile exporter in 1928. The "Regent" – Opel's first eight-cylinder car – was offered. The RAK 1 and RAK 2 rocket-propelled cars made sensational record-breaking runs.

Opel as a company and its co-owner Fritz von Opel, grandson of Adam Opel, were instrumental in popularizing rocket propulsion for vehicles and have an important place in the history of spaceflight and rocket technology. In the 1920s, Fritz von Opel initiated together with Max Valier, co-founder of the "Verein für Raumschiffahrt", the world's first rocket program, Opel-RAK, leading to speed records for automobiles, rail vehicles and the first manned rocket-powered flight in September 1929. Months earlier in 1928, one of his rocket-powered prototypes, the Opel RAK2, piloted by von Opel himself at the AVUS speedway in Berlin, reached a record speed of 238 km/h (148 mph) in front of 3,000 spectators and world media representatives, including Fritz Lang, director of Metropolis and Woman in the Moon, world boxing champion Max Schmeling, and many other sports and show business celebrities. A world speed record for rail vehicles was reached with RAK3 at a top speed of 256 km/h (159 mph). After these successes, von Opel piloted the world's first public rocket-powered flight using Opel RAK.1, a rocket plane designed by Julius Hatry. World media reported these events, including Universal Newsreel in the US, causing "Raketen-Rummel" or "Rocket Rumble" immense global public excitement, particularly in Germany, where, among others, Wernher von Braun was highly influenced.

Opel RAK became enthralled with liquid propulsion, building and testing them in the late 1920s in Rüsselsheim. According to Max Valier's account, Opel RAK rocket designer, Friedrich Wilhelm Sander launched two liquid-fuel rockets at Opel Rennbahn in Rüsselsheim on 10 and 12 April 1929. These Opel RAK rockets were the first European, and after Goddard, the world's second, liquid-fuel rockets in history. In his book Raketenfahrt Valier describes the size of the rockets as of 21 cm (8.3 in) in diameter and with a length of 74 cm (29 in), weighing 7 kg (15 lb) empty and 16 kg (35 lb) with fuel. The maximum thrust was 45 to 50 kp, with a total burning time of 132 seconds. These properties indicate a gas pressure pumping. The first missile rose so quickly that Sander lost sight of it. Two days later, a second unit was ready to go, Sander tied a 4,000-meter (13,000 ft)-long rope to the rocket. After 2,000 m (6,600 ft) of rope had been unwound, the line broke, and this rocket also disappeared in the area, probably near the Opel proving ground and racetrack in Rüsselsheim, the "Rennbahn". Sander and Opel also worked on an innovative liquid-propellant rocket engine for an anticipated flight across the English Channel. By May 1929, the engine produced a thrust of 200 kg (440 lb.) "for longer than fifteen minutes, and in July 1929, the Opel RAK collaborators were able to attain powered phases of more than thirty minutes for thrusts of 300 kg (660-lb.) at Opel's works in Rüsselsheim," again according to Max Valier's account.

World War II

Immediately prior to World War II, the American leadership of General Motors was philosophically of the opinion that, as Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., chairman of the GM board wrote, an "international business operating throughout the world, should conduct its operations in strictly business terms, without regard to the political beliefs of its management, or the beliefs of the country in which it is operating." Thus, by 1939, along with Ford, Opel was Germany's largest tank producer.

While some sources indicate Opel automobile production ended in October 1940, after the company's American leadership rejected an "invitation" to switch to munitions manufacture a few months earlier, Opel continued to produce trucks throughout the war. The Opel Blitz was used in large numbers by the Wehrmacht on many fronts for various purposes, including servicing military transports.

Truck manufacture continued at the Brandenburg plant, where the 3.6-liter Opel Blitz truck had been built since 1938. These 3 short tons (2.7 t) trucks were also built under license by Daimler-Benz in Mannheim.

Both GM and Opel have admitted that Opel used forced labor during World War II. The degree of control that General Motors in the US had over Opel at the time is subject to debate, but by production numbers alone, it is evident that Opel was heavily involved in production of trucks and other equipment.

The Opel Blitz was one of the vehicles used by Germans in The Holocaust as a gas van to kill with carbon monoxide.

1945–1970

After the end of the war, with the Brandenburg plant dismantled and transported to the Soviet Union to become the base of the Moskvitch 400, and 47% of the buildings in Rüsselsheim destroyed, former Opel employees began to rebuild the Rüsselsheim plant. The first postwar Opel Blitz truck was completed on 15 July 1946 in the presence of United States Army General Geoffrey Keyes and other local leaders and press reporters. Opel's Rüsselsheim plant also made Frigidaire refrigerators in the early post-war years.

1970–2017

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Vauxhall and Opel ranges were rationalised into one consistent range across Europe.

The 1973 version of the Opel Kadett was later rebadged in hatchback, saloon, and estate form as the Vauxhall Chevette for the UK market, with German factories producing the Opel versions. The Opel Ascona of this era was sold on the UK market (and made in British and continental factories) as the Vauxhall Cavalier. Both of these cars had mild styling changes, as did the flagship Opel Rekord and Vauxhall Carlton saloon and estate ranges, which went on sale towards the end of the 1970s.

By the 1970s, Opel had emerged as the stronger of GM's two European brands; Vauxhall was the third-best-selling brand in Great Britain after the British Motor Corporation (later British Leyland) but made only a modest impact elsewhere. The two companies were direct competitors outside of each other's respective home markets. Still, mirroring US automaker Ford's decision to merge its British and German subsidiaries in the late 1960s, GM followed the same precedent. Opel and Vauxhall had loosely collaborated before, but serious efforts to merge the two companies' operations and product families into one did not start until the 1970s – which had Vauxhall's complete product line replaced by vehicles built on Opel-based platforms – the only exception to the rule being the Bedford CF panel van. This only solely Vauxhall design was marketed as an Opel on the continent. By the turn of the 1980s, the two brands were, in effect, the same.

Opel's first front-wheel drive car – the new version of the Kadett – entered production in 1979, initially built in Germany and Belgium. It was sold in the UK alongside the stronger-selling Vauxhall version – the Astra – which entered UK production in 1981.

During the 1970s, Opel expressed interest in building an additional production facility in Spain and eventually settled on a location near Zaragoza, intending to develop a new supermini for the 1980s there. The factory opened in 1982, and its first product was the Opel Corsa (imported to the UK as the Vauxhall Nova from 1983).

The Ascona switched to front-wheel drive for an all-new General Motors J-Car global model format in 1981, with the Cavalier nameplate continuing for the UK market. The Kadett was revamped again in 1984, and became the company's first winner of the European Car of the Year accolade. The Rekord's successor, the Opel Omega (still Vauxhall Carlton in the UK), achieved the same success two years later.

2017–present

In March 2017, the PSA Group agreed to buy Opel, its British sister brand Vauxhall and their European auto lending business from General Motors for US$2.2 billion. In return, General Motors will pay PSA US$3.2 billion for future European pension obligations and keep managing US$9.8 billion worth of plans for existing retirees. Furthermore, GM is responsible for paying about US$400 million annually for 15 years to fund the existing pension plans in Great Britain and Germany.

In June 2017, Michael Lohscheller, Opel's chief financial officer, replaced Karl-Thomas Neumann as CEO. The acquisition of Opel and Vauxhall was completed in August 2017.

In the 2018 financial year, Opel achieved an operating income of €859 million. It was the first positive income since 1999.

On 16 January 2021, Opel became part of Stellantis following the merger of its parent company PSA Group with the Italian-American group Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

In July 2021, Opel announced that it would become a fully electric car company in their core Europe market by 2028. The announcement was made during Stellantis' EV Day 2021 strategy presentation and formed part of the company's broader electrification strategy.

In September 2021, Stellantis appointed Uwe Hochgeschurtz to Opel's management to replace Michael Lohscheller who left to Vinfast.

In May 2022, Stellantis announced that Florian Huettl would succeed Hochgeschurtz as CEO of Opel and Vauxhall, effective 1 June 2022, after Hochgeschurtz was appointed COO for Enlarged Europe at Stellantis.

Company

Opel operates 10 vehicle, powertrain, and component plants and four development and test centres in six countries, and employs around 30,000 people in Europe. The brand sells vehicles in more than 60 markets worldwide. Other plants are in Eisenach and Kaiserslautern, Germany; Szentgotthárd, Hungary; Figueruelas, Spain; Gliwice, and Tychy, Poland; Aspern, Austria; Ellesmere Port, and Luton, United Kingdom. The Dudenhofen Test Center is located near the company's headquarters and is responsible for all technical testing and vehicle validations.

Around 6,250 people are responsible for the engineering and design of Opel/Vauxhall vehicles at the International Technical Development Center and European Design Center in Rüsselsheim. All in all, Opel plays an important role in Stellantis' global R&D footprint.

Plants

Plant controlled as first-tier subsidiary of General Motors Europe Limited, second-tier subsidiary of GM CME Holdings CV and third-tier subsidiary of General Motors Corporation (GMC):

Marketing

Logo

Adam Opel began his manufacturing venture in Rüsselsheim, Germany, in 1862, initially producing sewing machines. To represent the brand, the earliest known logo featured a bronze "A" for Adam and a red "O" for Opel—his initials forming the foundation of the company's visual identity.

In 1866, Opel expanded and started to produce bicycles. Around 1890, the logo was redesigned. The new logo also contained the words "Victoria Blitz" (referring to Lady Victory; they were certain of the triumph of their bicycles). The word "Blitz" (English: lightning) first appeared back then, but without a depiction.

Another redesign was commissioned in 1909. The new logo contained only the company name Opel, and was used on the motorcycles that they had started to produce in 1902, and on the first cars which were produced in 1909.

In 1910, the logo's shape was a pointed oval surrounded by laurels, with the text "Opel" in the centre.

In the 1930s, passenger car hood ornaments had the appearance of a stylized airship; this later appeared on emblems, with the object passing through a ring.

Besides the hood ornament flying through the ring, Opel also used a coat of arms in various forms, which mostly had a combination of white and yellow colours in it, a shade of yellow which is typical for Opel until today. One was oval, half white and half yellow. The Opel writing was black and in the middle of the oval symbol.

The origin of the lightning in the Opel logo was the Opel Blitz truck (German Blitz = English "lightning"), which had been a commercial success. Originally, the logo for this truck consisted of two stripes arranged loosely like a lightning symbol with the words "Opel" and "Blitz" in them. 1950s models simplified this to the horizontal bolt of lightning which appears in the current Opel logo. The lightning always follows the original from the "Opel Blitz" text stripes, in the form of a horizontally stretched letter "Z".

By the end of the 1960s, the two forms merged, and the lightning replaced the "flying thing in the ring", giving way to the basic design which is used since then with variations.

Clubs

The SC Opel Rüsselsheim is a football club with over 450 members. RV 1888 Opel Rüsselsheim is a cycling club.

Slogans

Opel's corporate tagline as of June 2017 is The Future Is Everyone's (German: Die Zukunft gehört allen). The list of Opel's slogans is shown below:

Fresh thinking – better cars. (2002–2007)

Discover Opel (2007–2009)

Wir Leben Autos. (2009–2017)

The Future is Everyone's (2017–present)

Partnerships

Opel currently has partnerships with association football clubs such as Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund and 1. FSV Mainz 05.

Opel cooperates with French oil and gas company TotalEnergies on plans for a battery cell factory. From 1994 until 2006, Opel has been partnership with Milan and previously with Fiorentina from 1983 until 1986 in Italy, from 1995 until 2002 with Paris Saint-Germain in France, from 1989 until 2002 with FC Bayern Munich in Germany and from 2013 until 2017 with Feyenoord Rotterdam in Netherlands.

World presence

The Opel brand is present in most of Europe, parts of North Africa, South Africa, the Middle East (EMEA), Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and New Zealand. Their models have been rebadged and sold in other countries and continents, such as Vauxhall in Great Britain, and previously, Chevrolet in Latin America, Holden in Australia and New Zealand, and Saturn in the United States and Canada. Following the demise of General Motors Corporation's Saturn division in North America, Opel cars were rebadged and sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China under the Buick name with models such as the Opel Insignia/Buick Regal, Opel Astra sedan/Buick Verano (both which share underpinnings with the Chevrolet Cruze), and Opel Mokka/Buick Encore.

In 2017, GM confirmed plans of a "hybrid global brand" which includes Vauxhall, Opel and Buick to use more synergies between the brands. This plan was overridden by the sale of Vauxhall and Opel brands to PSA Peugeot Citroën.

North America

Opel cars 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 U.S. were the 1964 to 1972 Opel Kadett, the 1971 to 1975 Opel Manta, and the 1968 to 1973 Opel GT. (The name "Opel" was also applied from 1976 to 1980 to vehicles manufactured by Isuzu (similar to the "Isuzu I-Mark"), but mechanically those were entirely different cars).

Historically, Opel vehicles have also been sold at various times in the North American market as either heavily modified, or "badge-engineered" models under the Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, Saturn, and Cadillac brands – for instance the J-body platform, which was largely developed by Opel – was the basis of North American models such as the Chevrolet Cavalier and Cadillac Cimarron. Below is a list of the most recent Opel models which were sold under GM's North American brands.

The last two generations of the Buick Regal have been rebadged versions of the Opel Insignia. The main differences are the modified radiator grill and the altered colour of the passenger compartment illumination (blue instead of red). The Regal GS is comparable to the Insignia OPC. The 5th generation Buick Regal was first assembled alongside the Insignia at the Opel plant in Rüsselsheim. In the first quarter of 2011, it began to be built on the flexible assembly line at the GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. All 6th generation Buick Regals were built alongside the Insignia at the Opel plant in Rüsselsheim, Germany.

The Buick Cascada was a rebadged Opel Cascada, built in Poland and sold in the United States unchanged from the Opel in all but badging.

Unlike the vehicles listed above, the Buick LaCrosse was not a rebadged version of an Opel model. However, it was based on a long-wheelbase version of the Opel-developed Epsilon II-platform, so shared many key components with the Opel Insignia and thereby the Buick Regal.

The Astra H was sold in the US as the Saturn Astra for model years 2008 and 2009.

The Saturn L-Series was a modified version of the Opel Vectra B. Though the Saturn had different exterior styling and had plastic door panels, it shared the same body shape as the Opel. Both cars rode on the GM2900 platform. The Saturn also had a different interior, yet shared some interior parts, such as the inside of the doors.

Africa

Opel exports a variety of models to Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, and Tunisia.

The 2015 Opel range in South Africa comprises the Opel Adam, Opel Astra, Opel Corsa, Opel Meriva, Opel Mokka, and Opel Vivaro. No diesel versions are offered.

From 1986 to 2003, Opel models were produced by Delta Motor Corporation, a company created through a management buyout following of GM's divestment from apartheid South Africa. Delta assembled the Opel Kadett, with the sedan version called the Opel Monza. This was replaced by the Opel Astra, although the Kadett name was retained for the hatchback and considered a separate model. A version of the Rekord Series E remained in production after the model had been replaced by the Omega in Europe, as was a Commodore model unique to South Africa, combining the bodyshell of the Rekord with the front end of the revised Senator. The Opel Corsa was introduced in 1996, with kits of the Brazilian-designed sedan and pick-up (known in South African English as a bakkie) being locally assembled.

Although GM's passenger vehicle line-up in South Africa consisted of Opel-based models by the late 1970s, these were sold under the Chevrolet brand name, with only the Kadett being marketed as an Opel when it was released in 1980. In 1982, the Chevrolet brand name was dropped, with the Ascona, Rekord, Commodore, and Senator being rebadged as Opels.

Oceania

Many Opel models or models based on Opel architectures have been sold in Australia and New Zealand under the Holden marque, such as the Holden Barina (1994–2005), which were rebadged versions of the Opel Corsa, the Holden Astra, a version of the Opel Astra, and the Captiva 5, a version of the Opel Antara. In New Zealand, the Opel Kadett and Ascona were sold as niche models by General Motors New Zealand in the 1980s, while the Opel brand was used on the Opel Vectra until 1994.

For the first time ever, the Opel brand was introduced to Australia on 1 September 2012, including the Corsa, Astra, Astra GTC, and Insignia models. On 2 August 2013, Opel announced it was ending exports to Australia due to poor sales, with only 1,530 vehicles sold in the first ten months.

After the closure of Opel Australia, Holden imported newer Opel models such as the Astra GTC (ceased 1 May 2017), Astra VXR (Astra OPC), Cascada (ceased 1 May 2017), and Insignia VXR (Insignia OPC, ceased 1 May 2017), under the Holden badge. The 2018 5th-gen Holden Commodore ZB is a badge-engineered Opel Insignia, replacing the Australian-made, rear-wheel-drive Commodore with the German-made front-wheel/all-wheel-drive Insignia platform; however this model is no longer offered since the closure of Holden.

Opel returned to the New Zealand market in 2022, backed by the existing importer of the Peugeot and Citroën brands. Opel's New Zealand model line-up consists of the Corsa, Mokka, Astra and Grandland models, with the first two in both electric and petrol drivetrains.

Asia

Opel's presence in China recommenced in 2012 with the Antara, and added the Insignia estate in 2013. Opel-derived models are also sold as Buick. On 28 March 2014, Opel announced that it would leave China in 2015.

Opel was long General Motors' strongest marque in Japan, with sales peaking at 38,000 in 1996. However, the brand was withdrawn from the Japanese market in December 2006, with just 1,800 sales there in 2005. Since then, Opel has not sold any cars or SUVs in Japan. In December 2019, Groupe PSA announced intentions for Opel to return on the Japanese market in 2022, however the plan was eventually delayed indefinitely after PSA merger into Stellantis due to impact of Covid-19 and chip shortages.

A wide range of Opel models are exported to Singapore.

Opel was marketed in Malaysia beginning from the 1970s, and early models exported were Kadett, Gemini, and Manta. Opel had moderate sales from the 1980s until the early 2000s, when Malaysian car buyers favoured Japanese and Korean brand cars such as Toyota, Honda, Hyundai (Inokom) and Kia (Naza), which offered more competitive prices. Sales of Opel cars in Malaysia were dropped then, as Opel's prices were slightly higher than the same-segment Japanese, Korean, and local Proton and Perodua cars, and they were hard to maintain, had bad aftersales services, and spare parts were not readily available.

Opel was withdrawn from Malaysian market in 2003, and the last models sold were the Zafira, Astra, and Vectra, and the rebadged Isuzu MU as the Frontera, later replaced by Chevrolet.

Opel India Pvt Ltd (OIPL) was founded in 1996 and gave the average Indian car buyers their first choice of (somewhat) affordable German engineering with the Astra sedan. Opel was withdrawn from the Indian market in 2006, replaced by Chevrolet.

Since 1938, the country has been producing Opels in a General Motors-owned plant since 1938. The plant was nationalized in 1957. In 1995, General Motors invested a new manufacturing plant in Indonesia, producing the Opel Astra (as Opel Optima), Opel Vectra, and Chevrolet Blazer (as Opel Blazer). The latter was proved a sales success in the country. In 2002, the Opel brand was replaced by the global Chevrolet brand.

South America

Several Opel models were sold across Latin America, mainly Brazil and Argentina, for decades with Chevrolet development badges and its derivatives, including the Corsa, Kadett, Astra, Vectra, Omega, Meriva, and Zafira. In the early 2010s, the Chevrolet line-up changed to adopt North American models such as the Spark, Sonic, and Cruze, or local, own Brazilian development models like the Cobalt, Celta, Onix, Spin, and Agile - of which the Onix, Cobalt, and Spin are still produced. This ended once Opel came under Stellantis ownership.

Opel has exported a wide range of products to Chile since 2011 and Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay since 2021.

Europe

In the 1980s, Opel became the sole GM brand name in Ireland, with the Vauxhall brand having been dropped. Vauxhall's Managing Director has also been Opel Ireland's Chief Executive since 2015.

There were two Opel-franchised assembly plants in Ireland in the 1960s. One in Ringsend, Dublin, was operated by Reg Armstrong Motors, which also assembled NSU cars and motorcycles. The second assembly plant was based in Cork and operated by O'Shea's, which also assembled Škoda cars and Zetor tractors. The models assembled were the Kadett and the Rekord. From 1966, the Admiral was imported as a fully built unit and became a popular seller.

European Car of the Year

Opel have produced five winners of the European Car of the Year competition:

1985: Opel Kadett E

1987: Opel Omega A

2009: Opel Insignia

2012: Opel Ampera

2016: Opel Astra K

Shortlisted models

Several models have been shortlisted, including the:

1980: Opel Kadett D

1981: Opel Ascona C

1989: Opel Vectra A

1991: Opel Calibra

1992: Opel Astra F

1995: Opel Omega B

1999: Opel Astra G

2000: Opel Zafira A

2007: Opel Corsa D

2010: Opel Astra J

2011: Opel Meriva B

Nomenclature

From the late 1930s to the 1980s, terms from the German Navy (Kapitän, Admiral, Kadett) and from other official sectors (Diplomat, Senator) were often used as model names. Since the late 1980s, the model names of Opel passenger cars end with an a. As Opels were no longer being sold in Great Britain, the need to have separate model names for essentially identical Vauxhall and Opel cars (although some exceptions were made to suit the British market) was made redundant. The last series to be renamed across the two companies was the Opel Kadett, being the only Opel to take the name of its Vauxhall counterpart, as Opel Astra. Although only two generations of Astra were built prior to the 1991 model, the new car was referred to across Europe as the Astra F, referring to its Kadett lineage. Until 1993, the Opel Corsa was known as the Vauxhall Nova in Great Britain, as Vauxhall had initially felt that Corsa sounded too much like "coarse", and would not catch on.

Exceptions to the nomenclature of ending names with an "a" include the under-licence built Monterey, the Speedster (also known as the Vauxhall VX220 in Great Britain), GT (which was not sold at all as a Vauxhall, despite the VX Lightning concept), the Signum, Karl, and the Adam. The Adam was initially supposed to be called, "Junior" as was its developmental codename and because the name 'Adam' had no history/importance to the Vauxhall marque.

Similar to the passenger cars, the model names of commercial vehicles end with an o (Combo, Vivaro, Movano), except the Corsavan and Astravan.

Another unique aspect to Opel nomenclature is its use of the "Caravan" (originally styled as 'Car-A-Van') name to denote its station wagon body configuration, (similar to Volkswagen's Variant or Audi's Avant designations), a practice the company observed for many decades, which finally ceased with the 2008 Insignia and 2009 Astra, where the name "Sports Tourer" is now used for the estate/station wagon versions.

Current model range

The following tables list current and announced Opel production vehicles as of 2024:

Discontinued models

Motorsports

Opel Rally Team took part in World Rally Championship in the early 1980s with the Opel Ascona 400 and the Opel Manta 400, developed in conjunction with Irmscher and Cosworth. Walter Röhrl won the 1982 World Rally Championship drivers' title, and the 1983 Safari Rally was won by Ari Vatanen.

In the 1990s, Opel took part in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft and the succeeding International Touring Car Championship, and won the 1996 championship with the Calibra. The brand also participated in the Super Tourenwagen Cup in the 1990s, winning the manufacturers' title in 1998. Opel took part in the revived German DTM race series between 2000 and 2005 with the Astra and Vectra models, but after winning several races in 2000, it struggled for results afterwards and never won the championship. However, Opel won the Nürburgring 24 Hours with the Astra in 2003.

Opel returned to motorsport competition with the Adam in 2013.

In 2014, Opel presented a road-legal sport version of the Adam R2 Rally Car – the Opel Adam S – powered by a 1.4 L turbocharged engine which produces 150 hp (112 kW), allowing it to accelerate from 0–100 km/h (62 mph) in 8.5 seconds.

In 2019, at IAA, Opel presented the Corsa Rally Electric, an electric rally car for customer motorsport. Together with ADAC, Europe's largest automobile association, Opel has started the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup, the first rally brand cup for electric cars in the world in 2021. The charging infrastructure uses renewably generated electricity from the public power grid. In 2023, teams from seven nations took part in eight races in Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland. The electric motor, battery, inverter, and onboard charger come from the Corsa production vehicle. In 2024, the cup will enter its fourth season.

In March 2026, Opel announced its entry into Formula E with the Opel GSE Formula E Team for Season 13 (2026–27) — the beginning of the Gen4 era.

Sponsorship

Opel had previously sponsored football clubs AC Milan (1994–2006), Bayern Munich (1989–2002), Paris Saint-Germain (1995–2002), Fiorentina (1983–1986), Bordeaux (1985–1991) and Feyenoord (2013–2017).