The number 120 turned out to be truly lucky for visitors and buyers: among the participants of test drives held on July 13 and 14 at the Opel dealer network, 120 branded gifts were raffled off.
The Autocentre on Stolychny, which took first place in Opel sales volumes in 2018, decided not to rest on its laurels and organized not 120, but as many as 240 test drives.
The festive atmosphere was maintained by a decorated hall, a table with German dishes, and music from a DJ. The organization was thought out to the smallest detail, so the famous showman Leonid Senkevich was invited as the host of the event. He had to find out how well customers know the history of the Opel brand and additionally encouraged participants with prizes from the Autocentre on Stolychny — branded umbrellas, cups, and polo shirts.
The most interesting facts from the history of Opel — one of Europe's leading automakers — that guests learned during the event:
- In 1862, Adam Opel founded the company "Opel," which initially produced sewing machines. It took almost a quarter of a century for the enterprise to begin active development: then mass production of bicycles, known throughout Europe, including Germany, was established. The first car appeared only in 1899.
- The management of the company was taken over by Adam's sons — Karl and Wilhelm. The brothers gained worldwide recognition also because their enterprise was the first to introduce a standard working week and a minimum wage. In 1889, they acquired a small firm "Lutzman," where they later assembled their first car "Lutzman Opel." This event is considered the beginning of the history of the global brand "Opel."
- In 1928, an official agreement was signed under which Adam Opel AG became a subsidiary of General Motors. From then on, the production program focused on producing as many models as possible from a minimal set of unified units and bodies. Bodies became more spacious, fenders got rounded shapes, and cars gained space for a spare wheel. In 1934, cars of the German subsidiary, like the rest of General Motors products, received independent front suspension. The following year, Opel became the first German manufacturer to produce more than one hundred thousand cars in a year.
At the Autocentre on Stolychny, four current models are available: the spacious sedan OPEL Astra, the comfortable sedan OPEL INSIGNIA, the urban crossover OPEL CROSSLAND X, and the full-size SUV OPEL GRANDLAND X.
In the summer of 2019, commercial vehicles of the brand will be added to the four passenger models. The lineup will include the passenger minivan COMBO VP, the cargo van COMBO VU, and also the new 9-seat minivan ZAFIRA LIFE and the van VIVARO will appear at all dealer centers. The latter two models are built on the EMP2 platform from the PSA Group, which has already proven itself on the PEUGEOT Traveller, CITROEN Spacetourer, and Toyota ProAce models.
