General Motors has announced that effective earlier this month, the newly-formed Opel Group will assume full responsibility for General Motors’ European business. The new entity will be based in Rüsselsheim and led by CEO of the management board of Opel Group GmbH, Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann.
This organizational change means that the Opel Group will take over economic responsibility for all General Motors brands in Europe, including Russia. GM says the Adam Opel AG will now “be able to strengthen its financial basis” while the “operative business of the Adam Opel AG remains unaffected by this reorganization.”
Says Dr. Neumann, “Today, we are more than just Opel/Vauxhall. With the Opel Group, we align our organizational and legal entity structure in Europe with the business operations. We streamline our decision making processes and increase our efficiency. In brief: this reorganization is an important step in implementing our business plan DRIVE! 2022 and another sign of confidence of our parent company GM.”
The Chairman of the General Works Council, Dr. Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug, adds, “We ensured that the [employees’] rights of co-determination [are] safeguarded to the same extent despite the organizational changes.” In reference to the foundation of the Opel Group with its about 100 employees, Dr. Schäfer-Klug said: “We are happy that Opel’s position has been further strengthened. From Opel’s perspective, the reorganization of the European business offers more opportunities for growth and employment.”
General Motors says the new Opel Group is a testimony of how important Opel has become. Among the responsibilities are “Russia’s growing market and the planned manufacture of selected cars for Buick in the US and Holden in Australia and New Zealand.”
Comments
It would be interesting to know, if Opel Group GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adam Opel AG or General Motors Company and is the new company structure similar to Volkswagen Group or to Ford of Europe, where Fords German subsidiary only operates in Germany. I hope GM/Opel will not return to the old GM Europe company structure.
No, this new Opel Group GmbH is the new parent of the Adam Opel AG and all the other European GM-subsidiaries while GM is parent to the Opel Group.
Thanks, but does it mean that e.g. the Spanish manufacturing plant and most other properties are still owned by Adam Opel AG? The new company structure reminds me a lot of the old GM Europe in Zurich, which was definetely not a good thing where the old Adam Opel GmbH only operated in Germany and not in other European countries. I would rather like to see a similar company structure to Volkswagen Group, where the brands operate independently.
I only know what I’ve read in the news….but it seems that this new Opel Group GmbH is the parent of all European GM companies (including Cadillac, Chevrolet and the Russian market)
It is comparable to the old GM Europe in Zürich but now it is based in Germany and controlled mainly by Opel. So it is another step to a higher independance of Opel in my opinion.
All manufacturing facilities and technical centres were taken over by GM last year and are still wholly owned by them even with these changes. As long as long as this new structure doesn’t interfere with Vauxhall’s success I don’t have a problem with it but then Opel are not in a position to give Vauxhall any useful advice on how to sell cars and vans in any case
Do you have any sources? I only know that the Eastern European manufacturing facilities in Poland and Hungary were taken over by GM last year while the Western European facilities and R&D centers remained within Adam Opel AG. I guess there was an article on GM Auhority about that.
Not sure about GM Authority but there was an article on Automotive News Europe, at the time it was guessed that GM were taking direct ownership as collateral to continue to cover anticipated losses at Opel
Report : The OPEL ecotec turbo petrol engines all ; 1-5 km/l on highway,below 1 km/l in city,avg below 1 km/l,unstable acceleration,unstable power output,overload.
“Report” – what report? what is unstable acceleration? what is unstable power output? what overload? what the hell are you on about?
Dropping the GM name & branding in Europe, especially Russia, is a wise move.
At this rate a Chevrolet Group in the US would be a wise move. I, too, would love to see each division get more freedom; however, this isn’t really possible with Chevy, Opel, Buick and Holden set to share so much product globally.
Opel its becoming a hinge brand in that its products prop up both Chevy and Buick globally. It was insane to ever consider selling them.
Positive move generally, so long as Opel Group gmbH (including Vauxhall) is appropriately compensated for its incurred R&D costs, by its parent, and in addition receives a license fee from whatever GM division for platform use.
From what I’ve seen, Opel is the most exciting car company in Europe.