GM Central and Eastern Europe
1928 Chevrolet assembly plant opens in Warsaw, Poland.
1935 Licence agreement between GM, Opel and Lilpop, Rau and Loewenstein Company is signed to assemble and produce Opel Kadetts, Opel Olympias, four Chevrolet and Buick models and GM trucks in Warsaw, Poland. Production continues until 1939.
1989 GM Türkiye is established; construction of assembly plant starts in Torbali/Izmir.
1990 First Opel Vectra is manufactured at Torbali plant. Official announcement of a DM 250 million investment to establish a plant in Szentgotthárd, Western Hungary.
1991 General Motors Hungary Manufacturing Ltd. and Distribution Ltd. is officially registered. A new branch office opens in Prague, Czech Republic. GM Poland is established in Warsaw.
1992 The first Opel Astra rolls off the line in Szentgotthárd. Production of the 1.6 litre 8 valve engines starts. Production of the 1.6 litre 8 valve engines starts.
1993 Production of the new 1.6 litre 16 valve ECOTEC engines, introduced in the new Opel Corsa GSi, starts in Szentgotthárd.
1994 Production of a new 1.4 litre 16 valve ECOTEC engines begins in Szentgotthárd.
1995 A new investment of DM 257 million is announced with the aim of doubling the capacity of the engine plant to reach 460,000 units per year and building a new cylinder head production facility in Szentgotthárd with the annual capacity of 460,000 units for 16 valve engines. A representative office opens in Moscow, Russia.
1996 Official opening of the new cylinder head production plant in Szentgotthárd. Gliwice, Poland, is elected as the site for a greenfield manufacturing plant. The total value of the investment is EUR 700 million.
1997 Announcement of a new Budapest based Opel Southeast Europe organization. OSE is responsible for sales and marketing of Opel vehicles in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia. New branch offices open in Sofia, Bulgaria and Bucharest, Romania.
1998 Szentgotthárd starts production of the new 1.8 16 valve ECOTEC engine. The Opel Astra Classic production starts in Gliwice, Poland. A new branch office opens in Belgrade, Serbia.
1999 GM CIS is established in Moscow as an official distributor for Chevrolet, Cadillac and Opel cars.
2000 A new Allison Transmission plant starts to operate at Szentgotthárd. GM CIS signs a contract with Saab Automobile AB in order to import Saab cars and integrate the Saab dealers into the dealer network of GM CIS.
2001 GM Turkey is established in Izmir. Production ends at the Torbali Izmir plant. GM-Avtovaz joint venture is established in Togliatti, Russia, to build the Chevrolet Niva.
2002 General Motors opens the Central and Eastern Europe Regional Office in Budaörs, Hungary, managing GM business in 15 countries of the region.
2003 In its first full year of operation the GM Regional Office sells 139,239 Opel cars in the region, up by 41% compared to its sales in 2002. Opel market share grows from 7.37% in 2002, to 8.18% in 2003.
2004 A representative office opens in Tallinn, Estonia. Contract to assemble HUMMER H2 is signed with Avtotor in Kaliningrad, Russia. Today, HUMMER H2 & H3, Cadillac CTS, STS & SRX, Chevrolet Epica & Lacetti are assembled there. Chevrolet is added to GM’s portfolio across Central and Eastern Europe.
2005 Zafira production starts at the Gliwice plant.
2006 5 millionth engine is built at Szentgotthard. A new branch office opens in Bratislava, Slovakia. Construction works of a greenfield plant start in Shushary near St. Petersburg, Russia. Assembly of Chevrolet Captiva starts at a temporary site in St. Petersburg.
2007 Opel Corsa wins AUTOBEST Car of the Year Award for emerging markets. Assembly agreement is signed with Azia Avto of Kazakhstan and three Chevrolet models go into production. First Opel Astra Sedan is built in Poland. Opel Astra Sedan is launched in Turkey. Opel Antara goes into production in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Three Chevrolet models go into production at the UzAvtoSonoat plant in Uzbekistan. Global Purchasing and Supply Chain office opens in Istanbul, Turkey. 1 millionth car rolls of the assembly line at the Gliwice plant in Poland. First Chevrolet Aveo is produced in Warsaw, Poland. Assembly of Opel Antara starts at temporary plant in St. Petersburg. GM becomes the biggest non-domestic automotive group in Russia.
2008 Assembly of Opel Astra starts at temporary plant in St. Petersburg. GM and UzAvtoSanoat establish the General Motors Uzbekistan joint venture in Tashkent.
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