Adam Opel was a man born way back in 1837, but in 1863 he founded a company that manufactured machines for sewing. Following the success of this his company, named after him became the largest sewing manufacturer in Europe, and of course in his native country Germany. Later he began to produce bicycles; however he never saw the mass production of cars as he passed away in 1895. Three years later the company that bore his name made its first cars, and then later it began an agreement with a French automobile manufacturer by the name of Darracq. Darracq would manufacture and produce the chassis while Open manufactured and produced the body for the car they were assembling.
These early works of the Open Company were called Opel-Derracqs and were popular for their early time. However in 1911 an even changed the company for a short while as a fire gutted and destroyed their main manufacturing facility and a new one had to be built. In a way it was a positive step forward as the new factory was fitted for machinery that was considered the latest at the time. In 1913 they took from the other few car companies in Europe the title of the largest car manufacturer in Germany.
In 1928 a certain very large American corporation came along and bought 80% of the stock and share in the Opel car company. General Motors took this along with Vauxhall and based its European division on them. About half or more the GM cars sold across the world, and primarily in Europe are designed and manufactured by Opel, with a smaller percent by Vauxhall, and are in several countries. Under the Vauxhall name Opel is sold, making it an in house rebranding operation.
During the late 50s to the mid 70s Buick sold Opel cars as an ‘import’ at many of their car dealerships, and it was at this time the established sales to Japan. In the 90’s the sales in Japan spiked to nearly 40,000 automobiles, but as of last year just 1,800 were sold there – prompting them to discontinue selling Opel in Japan. The recent additions to the Opel line have included a Diesel hybrid vehicle, along with another hybrid in the works. So far it has plants across Europe, with one in Bochum, Eisenach, and Kaiserslautern, along with plants in Spain, Poland, Belgium, and Vauxhall’s United Kingdom plant. There was once a plant in Portugal, but it was closed from low demand in 2006 – causing a boycott of the Opel brand in Portugal.