Opel abandons plans to return to China
- The German firm Opel, which was acquired from the GM group (with its British branch Vauxhall) by the PSA group in 2017, was integrated into the Stellantis group at the time of the merger between PSA and FCA in 2021. Due to its past membership of the GM group, Opel has never been able to develop on markets outside Europe because of the preference given to the Chevrolet brand on these markets. Worse, Opel had to follow Chevrolet's withdrawal strategy in Russia and Ukraine. In short, Opel concentrated its sales and production on the European continent exclusively.
- Within the PSA group, which bought it in 2017, Opel continued to focus on the European market, especially in Germany and England where the brand (and its subsidiary Vauxhall) had always achieved its best sales (half of its sales).
- The situation became more difficult from 2021, the date of the PSA merger with FCA, where Opel found itself in the same market segment as Fiat. The strategy of the Stellantis group then consisted of repositioning the Opel brand between Fiat and Peugeot, by a slight move upmarket and repositioning Fiat in the entry-level category with Citroën.
- This new positioning had prompted Opel's management to consider marketing its models in China, the world's leading automotive market, but given the difficulties encountered by the Stellantis group in this market (the manufacturer has just stopped sales of Jeep ), the lack of notoriety of the Opel brand in China, the German brand preferred to abandon its project and consider establishing itself in other markets.
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