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Junkyard Gem: 1957 Opel Olympia Rekord P

Starting in the middle 1950s, General Motors made a real effort to sell Americans its vehicles built on the other side of the Atlantic. Pontiac dealers here got the British-built Vauxhall Victor, while Buick dealers sold the Victor's cousin, the German-built Opel Olympia. We saw a discarded '58 Victor Super Estate a few years back, and today's Junkyard Gem showed up recently at the very same car graveyard in northeastern Colorado. The Olympia name goes way back in Opel history, when the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games inspired its selection. You'd think that the notoriety of the 1936 Olympics as a Nazi Party propaganda festival might have encouraged Opel to change the car's name after World War II, but Olympia badges went on various Opels (with some pauses) through 1970. Just as the Malibu name began its life as a trim-level designation for the Chevelle, so did the Rekord name get appended onto the Olympia. The Rekord name eventually took over completely, with the last Rekords coming off the assembly line in 1986. The "P" in this car's name comes from the panoramic wraparound front and rear glass, a feature inspired by the gorgeous machinery coming from GM's Detroit car divisions at the time. Starting in 1959, this model became known as just the Opel Rekord. The influence from snouts seen on the 1955 Buick and 1955 Oldsmobile is unmistakable. There's a great deal of 1956 Chevrolet inspiration visible in the side view. The MSRP for this car in the United States was $1,995, which amounts to $21,818 in 2023 dollars. The similar 1957 Vauxhall Victor sedan cost $1,988 here ($21,741 in today's money). The cheapest possible 1957 Chevrolet four-door sedan (the One-Fifty with straight-six engine and three-on-the-tree manual transmission) cost $2,048 ($22,397 now). Of course, this Opel would have been in a showroom with far more upscale 1957 Buicks, which started at $2,660 ($29,090 after inflation) for a four-door. Still, this was a small car that got good fuel economy and was easy to park, yet boasted up-to-the-minute American styling. Buick dealers managed to move some of them here, though Opels became far more commonplace on our roads starting in the late 1960s. Yes, I bought this beautiful hood ornament; it now lives on my garage wall. The engine is a 1.5-liter overhead-valve straight-four, rated at 51.3 horsepower and 78.8 pound-feet. The ancestry of this engine goes all the way back to the 1937 Olympia.

Will Chevy Bolt get Opel badge in Europe?

General Motors' European plug-in vehicle name may go from A to B. That's because the Chevrolet Bolt could be sold under GM's Opel brand across the Pond, Automotive News Europe says, citing people familiar with the process that it declined to identify. The Ampera, the European version of the Volt extended-range plug-in vehicle, is being phased out due to poor sales. While the Ampera won the European Car of the Year in 2012, its sales have trended well below expectations. That the Bolt would be sold as an Opel hints to us that GM expects to distribute the electric vehicle in far smaller numbers than in the US. The Bolt, which was introduced in January in its concept version at the North American Auto Show in Detroit, will have a single-charge range of about 200 miles. GM representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from AutoblogGeen on Friday afternoon. The car will also have a price tag in the US of about $30,000, factoring in federal-government tax incentives. That's if those tax incentives are still around in 2017, when the Bolt is expected to debut stateside. Related Videos: Featured Gallery Chevrolet Bolt EV Concept News Source: Automotive News Europe-sub.req. Green Chevrolet GM Opel Electric Chevrolet Bolt bolt

Opel to electrify all model lines by 2024, speeding PSA transition

What do you see in the Opel logo? That's right, a lightning bolt. As the German automaker dramatically restructures its future plans, electric cars are in the core of Opel's survival. With attempts to stop leaking money, Opel is speeding up its secession from GM technology, launching nine new models by 2020 with the aim to complete transition to PSA hardware by 2024, leaving only two Opel platforms. This is all part of Opel's freshly announced PACE turnaround plan, which is crucial for the company's survival, according to CEO Michael Lohscheller. "PACE will unleash our full potential. This plan is paramount for the company, to protect our employees against headwinds and turn Opel/Vauxhall into a sustainable, profitable, electrified, and global company," says Lohscheller. Competitiveness will be improved by reducing per-car costs by 700 euros, and by cutting marketing costs by 10 percent. Regarding Vauxhall's future, the statement still includes the British brand. When the Opel sale agreement was reached between PSA and GM in March, the plan was to start implementing PSA technology in 2019, completing the transition in eight years, as Automotive News says. The new business plan is noticeably faster. By 2020, with full access to PSA's electric tech, Opel would have a fully electric next-generation Corsa hatchback and a PHEV version of the Grandland X SUV, which is already based on Peugeot's 3008 model. Currently, there are nine Opel platforms and 10 engine families. By 2024 there should be two platforms and four powertrains; the number of diesel engines in use remains to be seen, and all product lines would include an electrified model. There would be an SUV and a midsize vehicle based on PSA's EMP2 architecture, with the former built in Eisenach — formerly known as the town that built East German Wartburg cars before its Opel era — and the latter built in Russelsheim, where Opel HQ is located. The Russelsheim hub will become PSA's global "competence center," where all Opel/Vauxhall vehicles would be engineered — not Paris. Plans include avoiding any factory closures or personnel layoffs. The PACE statement also mentions Opel's entrance to all of 20 new export markets, with a specific mention of China and Brazil, countries which have traditionally seen Opels sold as Chevrolets. Will the United States be included in that export plan?