Opel reveals plan to return to Russia

The French group PSA Peugeot Citroen has revealed details of the return of the Opel brand. The automaker will sell three models in Russia - a crossover, a minivan and a commercial van, which will be produced at the PSA Kaluga plant. The group is already looking for dealers in Russia, but its conditions look unfavorable.

Read more. The PSA Group will sell three less popular models in Russia - the Opel Grandland X crossover, the Opel Zafira Life minibus and the Opel Vivaro Transporter commercial van. Zafira Life and Vivaro Transporter will be produced at the PSMA Rus plant in Kaluga, and Grandland X is planned to be imported from Germany. Sales are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2019, but prices are not yet known.

• So far, PSA expects to attract 15-20 dealers. When Opel, while still part of GM, left Russia in 2015, there were almost 10 times more of them. The best year for Opel in Russia was 2013 (81,421 cars and 2.9% of the market).
• There is a clause in the group’s proposal that will probably not suit the partners - it requires the construction of separate dealer centers under the brand. Russian companies are now treating this practice with caution - the need to build expensive sales centers has become one of the reasons for the bankruptcies of Russian car dealers.
• New models may be in demand on the Russian market, and there will be no need to build separate dealer centers for three models, says Alexey Leshchenko, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Modus Group of Companies.

Context. Opel left Russia in 2015 along with General Motors, which then owned the brand. Prior to this, Opel cars were produced at the GM plant in St. Petersburg. PSA Peugeot-Citroen, which remained on the Russian market, bought Opel in 2017.

• At the time Opel left Russia, the car market was at the bottom: at the end of 2015, it rolled back below the level of 2006. Since 2017, the market began to slowly emerge from the crisis. In 2018, it grew by 11.9%, and sales volume reached the pre-crisis level for the first time - it amounted to 2.38 trillion rubles compared to 2.37 trillion in 2013.