General Motors Europe

General Motors Europe (often abbreviated to GM Europe) was the European subsidiary of the American automaker General Motors (GM). The subsidiary was established by GM in 1986 and operated 14 production and assembly facilities in 9 countries, and employed around 54,500 people. GM's core European brands were Vauxhall and Opel, which both sell much the same range of cars in different markets. GM also owned the Swedish brand Saab until early 2010 and sold Chevrolet models between 2005 and 2015. The U.S. brand Cadillac is imported into Europe in small quantities. In 2009, General Motors (GM) announced to move its European headquarters from Zürich, Switzerland, to Rüsselsheim, Germany, to strengthen its German subsidiary Opel.

As of July 2022, General Motors's European operations are conducted by Cadillac Europe GmbH (distribution of Cadillac vehicles and Chevrolet sports cars), General Motors IT Services (Ireland) Limited in Ireland (provision of IT services) and GM Auto LLC (ООО Джи Эм Авто) (a separate subsidiary that distributes the Chevrolet Camaro, Tahoe, and Traverse models in Russia).

In Europe, GM Europe operated 14 vehicle production and assembly facilities in nine countries and employed around 54,500* people. Many additional directly related jobs were provided by some 8,700 independent sales and service outlets. In 2005 GM's market share in Europe was 9.4%.

The total number of European employees were 54,500 (as of May 2009).

General Motors entered the European market only three years after the company's foundation in 1908. This involved the construction of Chevrolet cars in Denmark in 1923 and Belgium in 1925. This involvement was greatly expanded by the acquisitions of Vauxhall in 1925 and Opel in 1929. Originally both Vauxhall and Opel had operated independently of each other with totally separate product lines and were direct competitors outside of each other's home markets.

See also David Hayward's Automotive history: GENERAL MOTORS 1908 TO 1933 Outlines in detail the company's development, acquisitions, key directors, particularly Guy Nicholas (Nick) Vansittart (1893–1989) see Lendrum & Hartman and James D. Mooney (1884–1957) involvement with Adam Opel A.G. and politics between the wars.

By the early 1970s, GM began to merge the product lines of Opel and Vauxhall, with the development of a series of common platforms from which a range of vehicles could be derived. These vehicles carried either Vauxhall or Opel branding depending on market – Vauxhall being mainly used in the British market, Opel everywhere else. This in turn allowed manufacturing resources to be pooled, therefore Opel badged vehicles were produced in Vauxhall factories and vice versa. Initially under this arrangement, Vauxhall still retained some degree of design and engineering freedom with their versions of the Opel models carrying their own distinct front and rear styling, and in some cases, their own engine designs; but by the launch of the Opel Kadett D in 1979, the cars only differed in badging and specification. This therefore meant that two ranges of otherwise identical cars were sold in competition with each other under the two brands, this ended in 1982 when both dealer networks were merged as "Vauxhall-Opel", most of the Opel range was discontinued in favour of their Vauxhall equivalents and Opel was positioned in Great Britain as a performance-luxury brand, with only the Manta, Senator and Monza ranges being offered in Great Britain. Elsewhere in Europe, Vauxhall's Bedford brand was used on car-derived vans and heavy commercial vehicles. Vauxhall-badged cars were sold across Europe in small numbers, even in Opel's home market Germany, and remained the longest in Scandinavia and the Benelux countries – markets that did not have their own automobile industry and also retained a residual resistance to German goods following World War II.

General Motors' American-made cars were sold sporadically in Europe in the 1970s and into the early 1980s. One main import centre was Lendrum & Hartman Limited in the United Kingdom (who had assembled GM cars in the pre-war years), but in 1982 there was a push to increase export to Europe and all American (and Canadian) imports were moved to a unified importer in Athens, Greece, called the North American Vehicle Overseas Organisation. This location was chosen as the company would also handle exports to Africa and the Middle East. The export push was a reflection of a weak dollar and the post-oil crisis move to smaller and more efficient cars, more marketable in Europe. General Motors' European spare parts depot for American parts was located in Antwerp, Belgium.