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Speaking of Opel, I believe everyone is no stranger. Opel, which entered the domestic market by way of imports in the early days, gained some popularity, but announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market in 2015 because of poor sales caused by expensive imported models. Recently, the PSA Group plans to sell Opel domestically in China, and the new Opel Insignia (becoming Yingsuya in China) will be one of the plans.

The new generation of Opel Insignia will be styled on the same platform as Peugeot 508 of PSA (EMP2 platform) and will be officially launched in 2020. The new car is expected to be equipped with domestic Peugeot 508 with 1.6T and 1.8T turbocharged engines. The appearance and interior of the new car are the same as those of the domestic Buick Regal, except for the Opel LOGO.

In response, some may wonder why Opel belongs to the PSA Group, while many of its models are very similar to Buick. In fact, the Opel brand was founded in 1863, became the largest car company in Germany in 1914, was bought by GM General Motors in 1929, and officially entered the Chinese market through import channels in 1993. From the time of entering China, Opel is definitely one of the earliest imported brands to enter the Chinese market.

However, the entry of Opel is obviously not so smooth. GM uses Buick as the main brand in its domestic market strategy, which has long been introduced into China and cooperated with China, while Opel has been sold by import. Compared with Buick, many cars of Opel and GM share the same platform, and most models are similar to Buick, such as Buick's New Regal and Opel's Insignia, Buick's Yinglong XT and Opel's Aart, whose products overlap, so no one cares about Opel with higher prices.

The niche Opel sold only more than 4300 units in China in 2013 and has more than 40, 000 vehicles in China, so GM has no choice but to withdraw it from the Chinese market, but also to better develop the Buick brand and avoid market competition.

After 18 years of long-term losses, Opel was finally acquired by the French PSA group in 2017. In fact, there was a stalemate in the Opel deal negotiations because GM hoped that Opel would not be sold in China after the acquisition, and BAIC had discussed with Opel that it planned to buy a 51% stake in Opel for 660 million euros, but in the end, PSA bought Opel, Vauxhall and financial institutions for 2.2 billion euros.

It is not domestic and unlikely for PSA Group, as the third largest shareholder of PSA, Dongfeng Group is also present at the negotiation site, I believe it is also involved, so Opel domestic will also be a matter of time.

According to PSA's latest official plan, PSA hopes to sell Opel in China after Citroen, Peugeot, DS and other brands mature sales in China.

However, with the passage of time, PSA has lost its glorious moment in China. Sales figures show that DPCA sold 9730 vehicles in October, down 47.4% from the same period last year. Cumulative sales from January to October this year were 100779, down 54.83% from the same period last year. DPCA lost 2.5 billion yuan in the first half of 2019. Even though Citroen Motors, which partnered with PSA in September, launched the "yuan" plan, it still has no effect.

Not to mention the Opel brand that once withdrew from the Chinese market, even PSA's own logo Citroen doesn't know whether it will survive. However, as an Opel brand with a long history, it still has a place in Europe.

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