Opel Could Break Even in 2015

Adam Opel AG hopes to break even in 2016, but analysts say the General Motors Co. unit might reach its goal a year early, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"Theoretically, that can't be ruled out," CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann cautiously agrees in an interview with the newspaper. He notes that Opel surpassed its financial goals last year when it narrowed its pretax loss to $300 million from $800 million in 2012.

Opel sales are reviving too, in large part because of GM's $6 billion (€4.3 billion) plan to add 23 new or updated models by 2016. Neumann, who arrived at Opel from Volkswagen AG last month, is trying to underpromise and overdeliver, according to the Journal.

Last year Opel sales slipped 2% to 825,000 units. But registrations rose 3% to 112,500 units in the first two months of 2014. Neumann says Opel, which is abandoning an unsuccessful attempt to enter the Chinese market, anticipates far more promising long-term growth in Russia and Turkey.