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• 160 year of Opel innovations for millions: Tradition-rich company celebrates birthday
• Start of a new era: Sixth generation Astra arrives at dealerships
• 40 Years of Opel Corsa: Limited edition “Corsa 40” presented
• GSe returns: Opel reveals dynamic and electrified “Grand Sport electric” sub-brand
• Electrifying performance: Successful season for Opel Corsa-e Rally and co.
• Innovative transport solution: First Opel Vivaro-e HYDROGEN in customer hands

2022 was an electrifying year for Opel in every respect: for 160 years, the brand with the ‘Blitz’ has been making innovations affordable for a wide audience. This was also the case in the anniversary year – first and foremost with the new Opel Astra, which celebrated its dealer premiere in the spring and has been delighting experts and customers alike ever since. Other bestsellers of the year are the Opel Mokka, the best-selling electric vehicle in its segment in autumn, and the Opel Corsa, which celebrated its 40th birthday this year. As the battery-electric Corsa-e Rally, it once again celebrated a successful campaign in the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup, the first electric one-make cup worldwide. In the future, Opel will also offer an even more dynamic everyday driving experience with the models of the recently introduced GSe sub-brand. At the same time, Opel is consistently advancing innovations for sustainable mobility in its commercial vehicles as well: for example, the first Opel Vivaro-e HYDROGEN with hydrogen fuel cell drive are already in use with customers. Today, Opel already has 12 electrified models in its portfolio. These and even more highlights are shown in the electrifying video "Best of Opel 2022: Electrifying Champions" on the Opel Highlights 2022.

“2022 was an exceptional year for Opel,” said Opel CEO Florian Huettl. “With the launch of the new Astra, electrified for the first time, we are driving into a new era Our Corsa and Mokka models – which are also electric – show what makes real bestsellers in the small car and subcompact SUV segment. We are consistently pursued our electrification offensive – amongst others, with the hydrogen fuel cell van Vivaro-e HYDROGEN. In this respect, 2022 was also a year in which we continued to drive forward the development towards becoming an all-electric brand in Europe.”

Success story: 160 years of Opel, 40 years of Opel Corsa, 30 years of Opel in Eisenach

In 2022, Opel celebrated a very special anniversary: 160 years ago, Adam Opel laid the foundation stone in Rüsselsheim for a company that developed from a producer of sewing machines to the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer to an internationally important automotive brand that always makes technologies from higher vehicle classes affordable for a broad range of buyers. At the same time, 160 years of Opel history show that those responsible have always thought outside the proverbial box and surprised customers with extraordinary solutions.

In addition, one of the biggest bestsellers celebrated its 40th birthday: the Opel Corsa revolutionised the small car class with its premiere in 1982 and still enjoys great popularity among customers today in what is now the sixth generation. The current Corsa is one of the most popular small cars ever. The battery-electric Opel Corsa-e also won the "Golden Steering Wheel 2020"¹ and is successful in motorsport as a locally emission-free rally vehicle. Opel celebrated this anniversary by launching the limited edition “Opel Corsa 40” – with the newcomer combining modern technology with numerous nods to the first Corsa generation.

Elsewhere, Eisenach also celebrated an anniversary: Opel models have been rolling off the production line at the Thuringian plant, located in central Germany, for 30 years. Three decades that have shaped entire region and during which the ultra-modern location has renewed itself again and again, so that future-proof vehicles such as the Opel Grandland, of course also as a plug-in hybrid, are produced here today.

The new Opel Astra: From the dealer premiere to the “Golden Steering Wheel 2022”

2022 was also marked by the new Opel Astra. In May, the sixth generation celebrated its dealer premiere. Completely new, equipped with innovative technologies such as the fully digital Pure Panel cockpit or the adaptive glare-free Intelli-Lux LED^® Pixel Light as well as with its clear, bold design including the new Opel Vizor brand face, visitors to the dealerships were able to test drive the newcomer for themselves – for the first time also as an electrified plug-in hybrid. The response was overwhelming, and the order books are brimming.

The readers and the expert jury of AUTO BILD and BILD am SONNTAG agree that Opel is entering a new era with the Astra. They awarded the Astra and Astra Sports Tourer the "Golden Steering Wheel 2022" in autumn. The latest generation of the best-selling model beat off strong competition to win one of the most prestigious awards in the automotive industry as "Best Car up to €50,000"².

At the same time, an "Auto Oscar" went to Rüsselsheim for the third time in a row. In 2020, the Opel Corsa-e¹ won the coveted award, and last year the Opel Mokka-e³ took top honours. The latter has become a bestseller with its design, technologies and suitability for everyday use. In October and November, it was the best-selling all-electric car in the B-SUV segment in Germany. In November, no less than 65 percent of all Mokka customers opted for the battery-electric, locally emission-free variant.

Dynamic, inspiring and electrified: The new GSe sub-brand

Also in autumn, Opel announced: "GSe" is returning – in a new, fresh guise. Where the abbreviation used to stand for "Grand Sport injection", it now becomes Opel’s new sporty sub-brand and means "Grand Sport electric". The Opel GSe models combine excellent driving dynamics with innovative electrification and will be at the top of the respective model series in the future. The plug-in hybrids Opel Grandland GSe (fuel consumption according to WLTP⁴: 1.3 l/100 km, CO2 emission 31-29 g/km; both combined, weighted, preliminary values) as well as Astra GSe and Astra Sports Tourer GSe (fuel consumption according to WLTP⁴: 1.2-1.1 l/100 km, CO2 emission 26-25 g/km; both combined, preliminary values) will be available soon.

Opel electrifies motorsports: Impressive rally record in 2022

Opel has also literally electrified international rallying in the 2022 season. Laurent Pellier and the Opel Corsa Rally4 dominated the Junior European Rally Championship (JERC), clinching the fifth Junior European title for Opel. At the same time, the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup established itself as the first electric rally one-make cup worldwide and continued its upswing. In rally runs that were as demanding as they were varied, the teams fought for points and trophies in the Opel Corsa-e Rally. In this way, the organisers showed how electric rally sport can inspire. Next year, the cup will enter its third season!

From Opel Rocks-e to Opel Vivaro-e HYDROGEN: E-offensive in full swing

Even with the smallest and largest models in the Opel portfolio, the manufacturer is pushing the pace in terms of electrification. The Opel Rocks-e, for example, makes young people from the age of 15⁵ in Germany mobile and brings a breath of fresh air to the light vehicle segment as an innovative electric vehicle for two. Elsewhere, the first customers have been behind the wheel of the Opel Vivaro-e HYDROGEN since this year. The pioneering hydrogen fuel cell transporter shows how versatile electric mobility can be in the commercial sector. It is the ideal solution for fleet customers who want to cover long distances without local emissions and need to refuel quickly. When fully fuelled, it can travel up to 400 kilometres (according to WLTP). Refuelling with hydrogen takes just three minutes.

All in all, Opel took full advantage of 2022, once again taking huge strides towards becoming a fully electric brand in Europe by 2028. This is exactly the path the company will continue to follow in the coming year – with models such as the first fully electric Astra Electric and many other innovations.

^[1] AUTO BILD and BILD am SONNTAG edition 45/2020, category for “Small cars”.

^[2] AUTO BILD edition 45/2022 and BILD am SONNTAG edition 46/2022, category for “Best car up to €50,000”.

^[3] AUTO BILD edition 45/2021 and BILD am SONNTAG edition 46/2021, category for “Best car under €25,000” incl. environmental bonus.

^[4] Preliminary values determined using the more realistic WLTP (Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure) test method which replaces the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) test procedure. A vehicle’s consumption, CO2 emissions and range not only depend on the efficient use of energy by the vehicle but are also influenced by driving style and other non-technical factors. The information on consumption and emissions does not refer to an individual vehicle and is intended solely for purposes of comparison between the various vehicle types. Vehicle not available yet.

^[5] Applies to four-wheeled light motor vehicles with a rated continuous/utilised power not exceeding 6 kW, with no more than two seats and a maximum speed not exceeding 45 km/h.