Opel will exit the Russian market in December 2015

The adventure of Opel in Russia will be cut short this year. The optimistic forecasts they made in 2013 by the CEO of GM and predecessor of Mary Barra, Dan Akerson, and by the CEO of the German brand and head of GM Europe, Karl-Thomas Neumann, have come to nothing due to multiple factors that have ultimately made it unviable to prolong Opel’s presence in that market.

The manufacturer announced today that it will leave at the end of 2015 and that it plans to close the factory in Saint Petersburg, where the Chevrolet Cruze and the Opel Astra J are produced. A Russian economy hurt by sanctions linked to the crisis with Ukraine and the fall in oil prices, combined with a sharp drop in car sales in the country, put at risk the goals set by GM in its DRIVE!2022 programme, so the automotive group has decided to change its strategy.

Neumann acknowledges that they lack the degree of localised production needed to remain in Russia, and the unfavourable situation of the local market discourages them from investing more money to resolve that situation. Furthermore, the outlook for new car sales in Russia will not improve even in the long term, as the head of Opel also pointed out.

Since Chevrolet does not face an easy future in that region either, its product range will be reduced to the Camaro, the Corvette and the Tahoe. The brand will also terminate the contract GM signed with GAZ in 2011 to assemble the Aveo at the Nizhny Novgorod factory.

From 2016 onwards, General Motors will be represented in Russia only by Cadillac and the aforementioned Chevrolet. This change of course is meant to help the European division of the American conglomerate achieve its most important goal for that year: returning to profitability after more than a decade of constant losses on the old continent.

Source | General Motors