Opel a jewel of German innovation

With Magna's offer to purchase, iconic German maker faces possibility of relocation

Jun 06, 2009

Special to the Star

A tireless innovator, manufacturer, importer and salesman, Adam Opel made his fortune with sewing machines.

Founded in 1863, his company produced more than half a million of them by the turn of the century while his five sons tinkered with bicycles, which they built to their own specifications and successfully raced.

Opel would eventually become the world's largest bicycle maker, but the brothers had already turned their attention to another wheeled conveyance – the automobile.

When Aurora-based auto parts maker Magna and Russia's Sberbank put together a tentative deal last week to take control of Opel, it was merely the latest episode in the history of the German industrial giant.

Opel's foray into automobile production was initially undertaken jointly, first with German Friedrich Lutzmann and then with French automaker Darracq. In 1902, Opel showed off its first in-house design, a 12-hp carriage whose two-cylinder engine incorporated a water pump and could propel the vehicle to 45 km/h.

Seven years later, Opel introduced a compact two-seater with a low-power four-cylinder. Favoured by country doctors and veterinarians, it became known as the "Doktorwagen."

By 1914 Opel had become the largest automobile maker in Germany. It began employing women in its factories, and even set standard working hours (55 1/2 hours weekly) and a minimum wage through collective bargaining.

Mired in a recession in 1929, Opel found a strong industry partner in General Motors. GM bought 80 per cent of the automaker, and then bought the remainder two years later.

By 1936 Opel was the largest automaker in Europe, but the Nazis commandeered its plants for war production. Those plants were consequently destroyed by British bombers in World War II. Modest production returned in 1946 with the reintroduction of the 1.5-tonne Blitz truck, which was desperately needed in post-war Europe.

GM regained control of Opel in 1948. Production ramped up in the '50s as plants reopened and new compact car designs found an audience. By 1972, Opel was the largest car manufacturer in Germany again with one-fifth of the market.

By this time, Opel had set its sights on export markets and even made inroads into Canada.

Opels appeared under their own name in North America from 1958 to 1975, when they were sold through Buick dealers. Memorable models included the classic Opel GT (1968-73) and Manta coupe (1971-75), a rival to Ford's Capri.

When the swoopy Opel GT was introduced in Germany, its advertising slogan – "Only flying is better" – became a popular figure of speech. In 1972, a modified diesel GT set two world records, sealing Opel's reputation as a diesel innovator.

The first front-drive Kadett model arrived in 1979. An immensely important vehicle for Opel, it rivalled the Volkswagen Golf as the bestselling car in Europe for years.

In the 1980s, Opel led an industry-wide campaign to adopt more environmentally sustainable practices, specifying water-based paints (1980), asbestos-free clutch linings (1983), and low-emission gas and diesel engines.

Saturn Corp., whose first sedan was still taking shape on a drawing board in Detroit, adopted some of the same ideas.

Opel was the first European manufacturer to fit catalytic converters on all of its cars and researched advanced aerodynamics as a fuel-saving measure. The Opel Calibra, launched in 1989, boasted the world's lowest coefficient of drag at just 0.26.

Opel became the first automaker to implement a recycling chain for its plastics in 1990. Its engineers also systematically eliminated hazardous materials such as asbestos and cadmium from the manufacturing process.

Its technologically advanced assembly plants became the envy of the industrialized world.

Innovation continued unabated on the diesel front. In 1996, Opel became the world's first manufacturer to combine four-valve technology with direct injection and turbocharging in a diesel passenger car.

As environmental standards tightened, GM increasingly found itself tapping into Opel's research and development programs, relying on new German products to fill gaps in its own product lines at home and abroad.

Opels are sold under other GM brand names, such as Vauxhall in Britain, Holden in Australia, Saturn in North America, Chevrolet in Latin America and Subaru in Japan.

The front-drive Pontiac LeMans (1989-94) was an Opel Kadett built under licence by Daewoo in South Korea for export to North America. It was also marketed briefly as the Passport Optima in Canada.

The Opel Omega luxury sedan was rebadged as the Cadillac Catera sold from 1997 to 2001. The Saturn L-series, Aura, Sky and Astra all are cousins of Opel models.

Opel sales have sagged in recent years with corrosive results. In October 2004 employees went on strike, prompted by the threat of 12,000 job losses. Declining European sales had made the prospects of layoffs very real, leading to damaging strike action.

The spiral downward accelerated, leading to the rescue package put forward by Magna chairman Frank Stronach last week, which may eventually see the German automaker build cars in Canada.

Toronto Star