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The Hessian car manufacturer Opel is celebrating its company anniversary. Once a technical pioneer and manufacturer of many successful models, the company later fought for survival. Now the future is to be electric.
At first it was not cars, but sewing machines and bicycles that were in vogue in the German Empire at the end of the 19th century. It was the successful core business of Adam Opel from Rüsselsheim. When he died in 1895, his sons continued the company and entered the still very young automobile market a short time later.
The first model from Rüsselsheim: The “Patent Motor Car” from 1899.
A new era began for Opel in 1899 with the “Friedrich Lutzmann Patent Motor Car System”. It was the first Opel car with a top speed of 25 kilometers per hour and 3.5 hp – initially only for the well-off.
“Even back then, Opel was striving to sell a large number of units. They already had the idea of bringing the car to the general public,” says Leif Rohwedder, who, together with his team, keeps the manufacturer’s oldest cars in good condition on the Opel site in Rüsselsheim.
Employees of the Opel motor vehicle department in 1899.
First German car manufacturer with assembly line
The first Opel cars were made by hand. After the end of the First World War, in 1923, Opel was the first German car manufacturer to switch to the then new assembly line, making it a pioneer of modern car production. The assembly line gave Opel an enormous competitive advantage: larger quantities and cheaper production.
At the beginning of the “Golden Twenties” the Opel 4 PS “Tree Frog” was introduced. A sensation on four wheels: It was the first German car to come off the assembly line and became a cult car with its speed of 60 kilometers per hour.
The Opel 4 PS was produced in Rüsselsheim from 1924. More than 100,000 units were manufactured on the assembly line.
Sale to General Motors: American design
With the global economic crisis, the Opel family sold their company to the US car manufacturer General Motors (GM) at the end of the 1920s. A decision that would pose existential challenges for Opel decades later. From then on, the car manufacturer was given an American touch, especially in terms of design.
At this point, Opel had become Europe’s largest car manufacturer. Even after the Second World War, Opel recovered quickly and demonstrated a great sense for trends. Germany drove Olympia, Rekord or Kapitän. In 1962, Opel launched one of its most successful models, the Kadett.
An Opel Ascona A – the model was built in the Bochum plant in the early 1970s. The last car rolled off the production line there in 2014.
The Hessian car manufacturer continued its sporty pre-war image with the Opel GT and brought a special attitude to life to the streets from 1968 onwards. The GT’s advertising slogan is still present in many people’s minds today: “Only flying is better.” The legendary Manta also captured the pulse of the times. Men and women of the world were supposed to drive through the 1970s in a sporty and stylish way.
Mismanagement and Overcapacity
From the 1990s onwards, Opel increasingly slipped into crisis. Quality problems as a result of cost-cutting measures became apparent. Quite a few customers missed what the car brand had stood for in its advertising slogans in the decades before: Opel – the reliable one.
Found its – mostly male – fan base: The Opel Manta was produced between 1970 and 1988.
Many employees blame the American parent company for the car manufacturer’s increasing decline.
Past the market
“They tried too hard to build cars according to the American philosophy, with even lower costs and qualities that did not meet the Germans’ wishes, and that meant they lost out to Volkswagen,” says industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer.
In 2009, the Opel crisis reached its peak. General Motors filed for bankruptcy. Opel is fighting for survival. The global financial crisis is doing the rest. Tens of thousands of Opel workers are taking to the streets to fight for their jobs. “Managers, stop trampling on the brand and the people. This is damaging to business,” said the then Opel’s General Chairman, Klaus Franzinto the crowd at a huge rally in Rüsselsheim.
Plant closures and job cuts
When Opel was to be sold to the automotive supplier Magna, General Motors suddenly backed out, accompanied by great public outrage. Hard years followed for Opel. The plants in Antwerp, Belgium, and in Bochum had to close due to overcapacity. Thousands lost their jobs.
In 2017, General Motors sold its German subsidiary to the French car group PSA Peugeot Citroen, which now belongs to the automobile giant Stellantis.
Profitable again after tough downsizing
Since 2018, Opel has been in the black again after nineteen years. The target markets have become more international and the fleet is being further electrified.
From 2025, Opel plans to rely entirely on electric drives for new models. The Rüsselsheim plant also plans to continue investing in hydrogen systems. Opel CEO Florian Hüttl recently presented the new Opel Frontera Electric to the world press in Istanbul.
Electric into the future: assembly of an Opel electric model at the Eisenach site in Thuringia.
International Business
The location was chosen deliberately. Opel says it is currently enjoying great success in Turkey in particular and that the internationalization of the brand is also succeeding. In 2023, 670,000 cars were sold worldwide, fifteen percent more than in the previous year. The international market share is four percent, the German market share is five percent.
Under the motto “Forever Forward since 1899”, Opel is now looking back on its 125-year, eventful company history with factory tours and a design exhibition in Rüsselsheim, while at the same time wanting to have a clear view of the future: and at Opel, that is electric.