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It would have been no surprise if Opel suffered a rough start to 2018 considering the controversy of its parent company General Motors announced its departure from the South African auto industry in May 2017.
When the German automaker announced it was staying put in June 2017, it was met with some scepticism, after all, its stablemate Chevrolet left the local industry.
'We're here to stay'
Instead, the automaker has been committed to its message of "we're here to stay", with new models launched locally, an influx of capital courtesy of its new stakeholder, the Peugeot-Citroen group (PSA), and flogging hundreds of vehicles each month.
READ: Review - Opel Crossland X 1.2-litre turbo Cosmo driven
In 2017, Opel SA announced that 7 new models were headed for the local market and also revealed its future plans with a new distributor in the form of the Williams Hunt Group.
The automaker said: "Williams Hunt has been a major and outstanding Opel partner in South Africa for many years contributing to some 20% of sales already today. With this setup, Opel plans to further grow in South Africa and strengthen brand and service to its customers."
Since January 2018, the automaker had four models in its stable which garnered 213 sales during the first month of the year. In February, the Crossland X joined the local line-up and numbers started to grow with each month, taking that figure 255 by March.
In April, sales for the brand increased to 313 though took a dive down to 243 in May despite the Grandland X arriving in SA. In August 2018, Opel sold 313 vehicles.
