CONTENTS > FAMOUS PEOPLE > ADAM OPEL
Biography and Timeline
Adam Opel and Adam Opel GmbH
There is great irony in the fact that the German firm founded by Adam Opel was almost sold off by General Motors in 2009 in the midst of an economic crisis. (GM later decided to keep Opel.) Eight decades earlier, on the eve of another worldwide economic crisis called the Great Depression, it was the giant American corporation that rescued an ailing Opel by buying the German automaker for $33.4 million, a vast amount of money in 1929.
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German industrialist Adam Opel. PHOTO: Adam Opel GmbH |
Following in his father’s footsteps, the young man (and his two brothers) learned the locksmith trade in the family’s workshop. As a journeyman, he embarked on his Wanderjahre (travels to gain maturity and experience) in 1857. After spending time in Belgium, England, and other European locations, he learned about manufacturing sewing machines in Paris. In 1862, back in his hometown, Adam Opel began making sewing machines of his own. A year later, with parts supplied by his brother Georg from Paris, Adam Opel set up shop in an abandoned cow shed provided by an uncle. Soon he was also selling sewing machines imported from England. It is this small sewing machine company founded in 1862 that will later become Adam Opel AG, Europe’s largest automaker in the 1930s.
Beginning in 1886, Adam Opel’s factories also manufactured bicycles. The company began making cars in 1898, but Adam Opel never lived to see the automobiles made by his company. He died of typhus in 1895, just three years before his wife and sons created their new Opel brand autos.
In 1868, Adam Opel had married an innkeeper’s daughter named Sophie Scheller. While providing her husband with five sons, somehow Sophie was also able to be an active participant in the family business. She took care of the payroll, sales, and employee training. All this prepared her to become the head of the firm after her husband’s death. In his will, Adam Opel had left his company to his wife and sons, and they did a good job. The firm continued to prosper by making sewing machines and bicycles, even after they began producing automobiles.
By 1911, the Opel company was cranking out 3,000 cars per year. It was in that same year that a fire destroyed the factory. In the process of rebuilding, Opel installed new equipment and dropped their line of sewing machines, but they would continue to produce bicycles until 1936. Sophie Opel died in 1913.
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Today’s Opel insignia was adapted from the one first used on the Opel Blitz (lightning) truck. PHOTO: Adam Opel GmbH |
In 1936, Opel sold its bicycle division to NSU. As World War II raged, the Nazis took over control of Opel in order to increase the production of trucks for the military in 1940. (Over 100,000 were produced by the end of the war.) General Motors considered its investment in Opel to be a complete loss, but GM would regain control over the Opel company in 1948.
At the end of the war Opel resumed production, despite the fact that several of its plants had been badly damaged by Allied bombing. In 1946, the first post-war Opel Blitz truck came off the assembly line. (The first Blitz trucks were produced in 1930.)
With headquarters in Rüsselsheim, Opel now has manufacturing facilities in four German cities as well as in Belgium, Spain, Hungary, Poland, and Russia. (Its plant in Portugal was shut down in 2006.) In the UK, Opel operates under the Vauxhall brand.
The 2009 GM Deal and No-Deal
During the 2008 American mortgage crisis meltdown and the ensuing economic downturn, General Motors was facing bankruptcy. It began looking for a buyer for its Opel division. On May 31, 2009, the German government, concerned about 25,000 jobs, agreed to loan Opel $2.1 billion in a bid to help Magna International Inc., a Canadian auto parts supplier, acquire the company. Magna was to get a 20 percent stake in Opel, while Russian-owned Sberbank would take a 35 percent interest, giving those two entities a majority. GM would retain 35 percent of Opel, with the remaining 10 percent going to employees.
But by November 2009, with its fortunes improving, GM decided not to sell Opel after all, angering the German government. In the end, the German carmaker, with its small-car expertise, was considered far too vital for GM to sell it off. Today Opel is still part of General Motors. Opel Germany employs nearly half of GM Europe’s work force.
Opel Timeline
An Adam Opel chronical
1862
Adam Opel begins the manufacture and sale of sewing machines in Rüsselsheim.
1863
Opel is set up as a business; hires its first employees.
1886
Opel begins making bicycles.
1898
The Opel company adds automobiles to its production.
1911
Fire destroys the Opel factory. Sewing machines are dropped when the factory is rebuilt.
1929
General Motors acquires 80 percent of Opel on March 17.
1931
General Motors takes over all of Opel.
1937
Opel is now the largest automaker in Europe.
1938
GM vice president James D. Mooney is awarded the Order of the German Eagle for his support of the Wehrmacht.
1939
World War II begins with the Nazi invasion of Poland.
1940
The German government takes over Opel’s factories and ends civilian production.
1944
Opel plants in Rüsselsheim and Brandenburg are severely damaged by Allied bombing.
1948
General Motors regains control over Opel.
2009
Opel’s mid-size Insignia is named “Car of the Year.” A deal to sell off most of GM's interest in Opel falls through – after the German government had already agreed to a $2.1 billion loan to rescue Opel. Opel remains a division of General Motors.
On the Web
- Germans Angry Over G.M. Decision to Keep Opel - New York Times, Nov. 2009
- Adam Opel (Wikipedia, in English)
- Adam Opel (Wikipedia, auf Deutsch)
- Adam Opel GmbH (Wikipedia, in English)
- Adam Opel GmbH (Wikipedia, auf Deutsch)
- Opel.com
Related Pages
- Famous Germans, Austrians and Swiss
- Famous Graves - The graves and cemeteries of the famous
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