GM May Announce Deal to Sell Opel on Monday

1962 Opel Rekord

MUNICH—General Motors is expected to announce on Monday that it is selling its Adam Opel unit to French automaker PSA Group, maker of Peugeot and Citroën cars.

The two companies said Saturday they would hold a joint press conference Monday morning in Paris. Last month the two acknowledged they were in talks for PSA to acquire Opel.

Opel is GM’s European division and designs and manufactures Opel-branded automobiles for sale in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America, as well as Buick-branded cars for the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China. The storied automaker, which was founded as a sewing machine company in 1862, also designs and manufactures Holden-branded passenger cars for Australia and New Zealand and Vauxhall-branded cars for Great Britain.

The deal would catapult PSA into the number two slot in Europe, behind Volkswagen.

Opel, which GM has owned since 1929, has been a money-losing division for decades and has struggled to cut costs and improve productivity.

Opels were sold under the Opel brand in the United States from 1958 through 1975 by Buick dealers, who offered the Opel Kadett, Opel Manta, and Opel GT among others. The current Buick Regal is a rebadged Opel Insignia.

In its home market, the current Opel range includes over a dozen vehicles including the Adam city car; Ampera-e, a European version of the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle; the Cascada convertible, sold as the Buick Cascada in the United States; the Insignia; and the Mokka sport utility vehicle, sold as the Buick Encore in the United States.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)