Opel-Company-FactsFigures2015_en-de.pdf

OPEL 4/20 PS SPORT-ZWEISITZER, 1930
CHAPTER I: COMPANY
OPEL HERITAGE
OPEL LOOKS BACK ON A LONG COMPANY HISTORY.
HERE ARE SOME KEY DATES:
1862 Adam Opel founds a company in Rüsselsheim to build sewing
machines, laying the foundation for the future Adam Opel AG.
One million sewing machines are built up to 1911.
1865 Opel hires its first apprentice.
1886 By entering the booming bicycle manufacturing business,
Opel secures a second foothold for his company and an
affordable form of mobility for his customers. In the following
decades, Opel becomes the world’s largest bicycle producer.
1899 Start of automobile production. “Opel Patent Motor Car,
System Lutzmann” is the name given to the first Opel automobile.
1906 The 1,000th Opel automobile leaves the factory.
1907 The first “workers’ committee” is founded; the first Opel works
council starts its work.
1911 Foundation of the “Adam Opel Stiftung”, a pension fund,
for the employee retirement pension plan.
A fire destroys most of the plant.
1912 Opel celebrates its 50th anniversary.
1924 The first car built with assembly-line processes rolls out
of the plant: the legendary 4/12 hp model, better known as the
“Laubfrosch” or “tree frog”.
1928 Experiments with rocket propulsion: RAK 1
accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in just eight seconds on the
Opel Racetrack. Shortly thereafter, Fritz von Opel reaches a top
speed of 238 km/h in the RAK 2 on the Avus track in Berlin.
1929 General Motors acquires Adam Opel AG.
1930 Market launch of the Opel Blitz truck series.
1931 Opel is the first manufacturer to set up a customer service
training center.
1935 Opel becomes the first German carmaker to manufacture
more than 100,000 vehicles per year.
The Opel Olympia is the first car from a German manufacturer
with a self-supporting all-steel body.
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