Word: opel
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While such giants as Volkswagen, Opel (G.M.) and Taunus (Ford) have cut back production to meet declining demand, BMW in Munich has been turning out its cars at full two-shift capacity. In the first five months of 1967, overall German car sales dropped 18%. At the same time, BMW increased its own turnover by precisely the same percentage, expects to reach the $250 million mark in total sales this year...
Pleasant Headache. But impressive gains are being scored by others, as evidenced by the No. 2 import, West Germany's G.M.-made Opel, which has sold 21,000 cars in the U.S. so far this year, almost double last year's pace. Partly accounting for the foreigners' success is the fact that most have escaped the adverse safety publicity that has plagued domestic carmakers. When Washington's new safety standards take effect on 1968 models, however, the tables are likely to be turned. Automotive News recently reported that ten foreign makers may have to drop...
...pocketbooks. Volkswagen domestic production has dropped 25% from 1966's record high of 1,476,000 vehicles. Like U.S. automakers, the company has been hit by the safety scare. In the mini-motor field, which its beetles long dominated, VW is getting serious competition from General Motors' Opel and the German Ford. Nordhoff has been fighting the pinch with stepped-up exports and a new, cheaper ($1,121) 41 h.p. Model 1200 that he christened Wirt-schaftskrise Kafer, or "economic crisis beetle." With all that, his successor, Kurt Lotz, 54, will have plenty of problems...
...Mans-styled model with a sloping tail, a Ford Taunus engine and a built-in roll-bar. Japan's Toyota came West with a 2,000 GT roadster labeled "James Bond." To be sure, Detroit-styled iron was there, but the square lines of Germany's new Opel Commodore seemed oddly more American than the nifty Mustangs and Cougars. And the canny Dutch drew crowds with a wicker-seated beach buggy named "Kini," built...
...been rather slow in meeting the new need for spartan transportation. While the company was busy promoting its relatively new 1500 fastback sedan, G.M.'s and Ford's German subsidiaries were challenging the beetle at its own game. Sales of G.M.'s small, $1,360 Opel Kadett soared 28% last year, after a 6% drop in 1965. Ford last September successfully reintroduced its $1,322 Taunus 15M, a model it had dropped in 1959. When his 1200 gets into full production, Volkswagen's Nordhoff plans to skip the rich U.S. market, which accounts...