Opel sales on the upswing across Europe

Following seven months of strong sales in Germany, Opel sales across Europe are now also on the upswing.

With 104,531 new passenger car registrations, Opel increased its market share in Europe to 7.2 per cent in July, up from 6.45 per cent in July last year.

From January to July, market share was 7.03 per cent, solidly placing Opel third in the registration statistics for Europe.

Opel enjoyed particularly strong growth in France, increasing market share in July 2009 by 41.5 per cent compared to July 2008 (total market + 3.1 per cent). The Meriva and Corsa enjoyed particularly strong sales there. Opel registrations in Spain were up 0.8 per cent in July, a substantially stronger performance than the overall market, which decreased by 10.3 per cent. In Belgium, Opel grew 12.4 per cent in July while the overall market declined by 8.7 per cent. Germany remains Opel's most successful market, with a plus of 51.5 per cent in July against the overall market's growth of 29.5 per cent.

With around 140,000 orders across Europe, the new Insignia is playing a major role in Opel's success: the brand was the clear leader in the mid-size sedan segment in the first half of this year.