Home Part 2: The Last 100 years 8: Car Manufacturers by Country 8.6 Germany 8.6.4. Opel History of Opel Motor Cars / Automobiles 8.6.4. Opel The Adam Opel Company, which was formed in 1863, started out making Lutzmann cars under licence in 1898 and French Darracq cars two years later. In 1902 the company decided to produce their own cars. Early models include the 10/18 PS Doppelphaeton and the 4/8 PS Doktorwagen 2-Sitzer. By 1913 they were the largest car maker in Germany. In 1929 the company was acquired by General Motors. Opel started production of the Olympia model in 1935. It was the first mass-produced car with a chassis not seperated from the body. By 1940 over 168,000 had been made. The model was also produced from 1947 to 1952. In 1953 it was replaced by the Olympia Rekord and 580,000 were made by 1957. Between 1937 and 1940 Opel produced the Kadett. The A and B versions were produced from 1962 to 1973, with over 3.2 million made.  From 1958 to 1975 the Opel name was used in the United States; the cars being sold by Buick dealers. The top Opel models being the Kadett (1964-72), Manta (1971-75) and the Opel GT (1968-73). The top selling “super-mini” Opel Corsa was introduced in 1982 and by 2002 over 11 million, under a variety of names, had been produced. In addition to Germany the Corsa has also been built in Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Mexico, South Africa and Spain. Production of the Opel Vectra started in 1988 and by 2002 over 4.5 million had been made. Up to 1995 this model was called the Vauxhall Cavalier in Great Britain. The Opel Astra was first produced in 1991 and well over 7 million have been produced. The model has been built in Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Great Britain, India, Poland, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine. Since car production started over 100 years ago Opel have used about 40 different model names. Models available in 2007 include the Astra, Corsa, Meriva, Speedster, Tigra, Vectra, Vivaro and Zafira.   [ Back ]