Opel to Produce Cars for U.S. Market

General Motors Co.'s Opel unit plans in about 2018 to produce a new Buick-brand model for export to the U.S.

Opel will spend €245 million to prepare its factory in Russelsheim, Germany, to assemble the vehicle. The company will reveal details about the new model later this year, but observers note the Russelsheim plant current makes the midsize Insignia sedan, which shares its platform with the Buick Regal.

Separately, Opel has canceled plans to increase exports to China, where it sold only 4,400 cars last year. The company will phase out those operations by year-end. CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann describes the decision, which will save the company hundreds of millions of euros in marketing and distribution costs, as "long overdue."

The decision, coupled with GM's plan to pull its Chevrolet brand out of Europe, refocuses Opel as a primarily European brand.