Opel/Vauxhall Cars

Throughout its long history, Vauxhall has tried to make cars that are both affordable and attractive to buyers. However, they have faced stiff competition from a variety of sources, especially from Ford. The first Vauxhall factory was established by Alex Wilson, however, cars were not the first things to come off the assembly line. Vauxhall originally specialized in engines and pumps, not making its first cars until 1903.

While Vauxhall started as a British-owned and operated company, it was bought out in the 1920s by America's General Motors. The decision to sell the company would affect the sales and design of their cars for years afterward, and it would also unite Vauxhall with Opel, its European counterpart. The cars produced by Opel/Vauxhall had very little of the innovation of their predecessors; rather, they closely resembled GM's American offerings.

When GM Auto company bought Vauxhall and took over its daily operations, it took four more years for the new, larger company to purchase Germany's Opel. Since then, the Opel and Vauxhall companies, workers and dealers have been connected, producing cars virtually identical in design and construction. Opel/Vauxhall cars are very common across Europe, and are GM's strongest presence there. However, the Vauxhall part of the company has always balked at changing its name, but that did not stop its cars from becoming copies of Opel's.

Within Great Britain, there were Opel dealers, selling models that are exactly identical to those offered by Vauxhall. That changed in the late 1970s, as GM decided to pull Opel out of the UK (the last Opel was sold there in 1988). Opels are still sold in Ireland, and Vauxhall dealers were either shuttered or absorbed by Opel in the 1980s.

Another relative of Opel/Vauxhall is Holden, a GM company operating mostly in Australia. Holden started as an independently-run manufacturer, but was bought out by GM in 1931. The Holden Company has a variety of models that were designed by their counterparts in Europe, but they have retained some measure of independence by specializing in high-performance cars geared toward the racing world.

Opel/Vauxhall has had some difficulty in continuing its independence, but being owned by one of the biggest automakers in the world does have its advantages, namely, ensuring the brand's survival in a tough car market. The Opel/Vauxhall cars of today owe as much of a debt of gratitude to GM as they do to Alex Wilson's hard work over a century ago.