Will Opel Be Reintroduced into North America?

GMs European Opel Brand Could Be an Answer to Stiff Japanese Competition

Soon after the Frankfurt auto show in September General Motors Europe boss Mike Burns and Opel design chief Martin Smith will ask GM of North America to reintroduce the Opel brand to North American consumers, said Opel sources in Germany to weekly magazine Autoweek.

If you were around in the 1970s, you might remember the German automakers models being sold in Buick dealerships. In turn the Cadillac Catera, hardly more than a rebadged Opel Omega, was built in Europe and shipped over the Atlantic for North American consumption, but succumbed to poor sales - recently it was replaced by the U.S.-made CTS model.

What models should we expect to hit our market? Autoweek said that Opel would introduce the compact Signum and midsize Vectra wagon with more models to come later on.

The worlds largest automakers car revival efforts have recently included a cooperative arrangement with Australias Holden for its Monaro-based Pontiac GTO. Autoweek commented that other models from GMs down under division will follow.

The plan to bring Opel back to North America is part of GM chairman Bob Lutzs grand scheme to add more cars to the brands already densely populated vehicle portfolio.