Opel Aims to Boost Sales Outside Europe

General Motors Co.'s Adam Opel unit plans to boost sales in Australia, China, Russia, Turkey and other markets to offset weakness in its core European markets, says Handelsblatt.

CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke tells the financial daily that Opel aims to increase its sales in China to 30,000 vehicles per year by an unspecified date from nearly 5,000 units last year. He predicts that the Astra compact sedan will help the company gain market share in Russia and Turkey, where small cars are in demand.

Opel is scrambling to devise a restructuring plan that will return it to profitability. The company's unions are urging it to avoid plant closings by using excess capacity to produce Opel models for other markets. However, Opel's biggest seller in China last year was the Antara compact crossover vehicle, which is made by GM in South Korea.