Adam Opel AG | Introduction
Introduction
Adam Opel Haus
D-65423 Rüsselsheim
Germany
Telephone: 49-6142-660
Fax: 49-6142-664-859
Web site: http://www.opel.com
Wholly Owned Subsidiary of General Motors Corporation
Incorporated: 1862
Employees: 34,103
Sales: EUR 14.88 billion ($15.97 billion) (2002)
NAIC: 336111 Automobile Manufacturing
Adam Opel AG ranks among Germany's largest automobile manufacturers, producing passenger cars, sport utility vehicles, and commercial vehicles at more than a dozen plants in Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and other non-European countries. Wholly owned and operated by the American automotive giant General Motors Corporation, Opel was founded in the mid-19th century to make sewing machines. The company turned to the manufacture of automobiles in the earliest days of the industry, producing popular cars that were available to the common man. Opel survived the devastation of two world wars to prosper during the auto boom of the 1950s through 1970s, only to experience difficulties later as the market moved toward smaller, more economical cars. Rejuvenated in the early 1990s via factory upgrades and fresh new car designs, Opel became "the centerpiece of General Motors' international strategy." But the internationalization of the Opel brand soon backfired as Opel lost ground in its base market of Europe because of a model lineup ill-suited to that market, and the company was hurt further by strained relations between the firm's German managers and employees and their bosses in the United States and by a deterioration in quality because of cost-cutting.