Cadillac Europe

General Motors Suisse SA ; Opel Suisse SA ; Cadillac Europe GmbH
legal form	Company with limited liability
founding	May 1935
Seat	Glattpark , Switzerland
Branch	Automobiles
Website	de.cadillac.ch

Cadillac Europe is a Swiss company in the automotive sector . In the past it was also active as a manufacturer.

Company history

In the 1930s, General Motors was looking for a suitable location for an assembly plant in Switzerland. Guido Müller , the then mayor of Biel , offered a finished factory and tax exemption for five years. General Motors Suisse was founded in Biel on May 2, 1935 . In deviation from this, the commercial register states May 1, 1935. The first vehicle was produced on February 5, 1936. Up to the outbreak of the Second World War , around 2000 vehicles were built annually.

After the end of the war, production was continued and expanded. At the end of the 1950s, the annual capacity was 14,500 cars. In the mid-1960s there were more than 1000 employees. In 1970, 17,102 vehicles were built. Imported vehicles were also sold. At that time problems began. Switzerland was part of the European Free Trade Association , not the European Union . A free trade agreement of July 22, 1972 between the European Economic Community and Switzerland was valid from January 1, 1973. The plan was top class car type Opel Diplomat to assemble. The oil price crisis that followed on October 16, 1973 caused sales of such vehicles to drop rapidly, after which cheaper models were assembled again. The last vehicle was produced on August 14, 1975. It was an Opel. A total of 329,864 vehicles were manufactured.

The company then limited itself to import and distribution. In 1994 the company was renamed Opel Suisse SA . In addition, Opel Svizzera SA and Opel Schweiz AG have come down to us. On November 17, 2003, the old company name was adopted again. The alternative or translated company names were General Motors Schweiz AG , General Motors Svizzera SA and General Motors Switzerland Ltd. On April 13, 2004 there was a merger agreement with Saab Automobile Schweiz AG , which was taken over. Saab was part of General Motors at the time. On April 14, 2004 the headquarters were relocated to Opfikon . On May 24, 2012 there was another merger agreement, this time with General Motors Europe AG .

At the beginning of 2017 Opel was sold by General Motors to Groupe PSA . The next merger agreement followed on June 30, 2017. This time Cadillac Europe GmbH was taken over, the company's name was changed to Cadillac Europe GmbH and the legal form of a limited liability company was chosen. An alternative or translated company name was Cadillac Euope LLC . On February 16, 2018, the headquarters were relocated to Glattpark . The obvious spelling mistake in Cadillac Euope LLC was later officially changed to Cadillac Europe LLC .

vehicles

1951 Chevrolet Styleline

Vehicles from the brands Bedford , Buick , Cadillac , Chevrolet , LaSalle , Oldsmobile , Opel , Pontiac and Vauxhall are mentioned . Then there was the own brand Ranger.

Many parts came from suppliers in Switzerland. Scintilla AG from Solothurn supplied electrical parts, Roviva from Wangen an der Aare Polster , Firestone Pratteln from Pratteln and Pallas-Cord from Wetzikon Reifen and the accumulator factory Oerlikon Batteries . According to a source, some bodies were manufactured by Carrosserie Hess , Carrosserie Langenthal and Carrosserie U. Höhener's Erben . In addition to Langenthal, another source names Reinbolt & Christé from Basel . In addition to the assembly of well-known models, there were also in-house designs such as the Chevrolet 13 hp with an Opel engine.

Ranger brand

In 1967 or shortly thereafter, the decision was made to launch the company's own Ranger car brand . The reason given is that the many strikes in England at the time resulted in a loss of quality and the image of Vauxhall was damaged. The debut took place in March 1970 at the Geneva Motor Show .

The first model was based on the Opel Rekord C. As a Ranger in 1900 , the vehicle had a four-cylinder engine with 1897 cc displacement and was both as a two-door sedan as well as a coupe available. There was also the Ranger 2500 as a four-door sedan based on the Opel Commodore A and the Coupé Ranger 2500 GTS , both with a six-cylinder engine . 391 vehicles were built in 1970, 345 in the following year and 451 in the last year of production in 1972. That makes 1187 vehicles in total.

The successor model was based on the Opel Rekord D and was only available with the 1897 cc engine and as a coupé. Only 35 vehicles were built by 1973. Only seven of these were sold by the end of 1973 and the last only in 1978. The General Motors assembly plant in Antwerp assembled this model a little longer.

Overview of the construction time of the various brands

brand	Start of production	End of production
Buick	1936	1958
Cadillac	1938	1940
Chevrolet	1936	1938
LaSalle	1936	1937
Oldsmobile	1936	1958
Opel	1936	1975
Pontiac	1936	1959
ranger	1970	1975
Vauxhall	1946	1971

Source:

Special exhibition

From May 21 to June 1, 2009, a special exhibition took place in the Salzhaus in Wangen an der Aare. 19 vehicles manufactured by General Motors Suisse were presented, along with the one-off Soletta 750 .

model	Construction year	text
Buick Eight Special	1936	One of the company's oldest cars from December 1936 and the oldest still in existence. Construction as a limousine . In 1937 a total of 353 Buick were built.
Chevrolet 13 hp	1939	Based on Chevrolet, six-cylinder engine from the Opel Super Six , which was rated with 13 taxable horsepower . Six-seat sedan. Of the 771 Chevrolets made that year, less than a quarter were 13 hp.
Chevrolet Kübelwagen	1939	Conversion of limousines into four-door Kübelwagen for the Swiss Army . Only one vehicle known.
Opel Olympia	1948	Based on the Opel Olympia, but with a special body from the Langenthal bodywork with a trunk lid. One of 15.
Vauxhall Postfourgon	1949 or 1950	Panel van based on Vauxhall Wyvern or Vauxhall Velox with a body from Carrosserie U. Höhener's Erben . In 1949, 1259 Vauxhall was built and another 756 in Biel in 1950. A second surviving specimen is in the Museum for Communication in Bern .
Chevrolet 13 hp	1951	Again the combination of a sedan from Chevrolet with an engine from Opel with 13 taxable horsepower. Around 250 to 350 of these vehicles were built annually.
Pontiac Chieftain	1951	Four-door sedan that cost as much as four VW Beetles at the time . That year the company produced 180 Pontiac cars.
Vauxhall Wyvern	1954	Four-door Swiss mid-range sedan . GM Suisse manufactured Vauxhall in 1070.
Opel Rekord Ascona	1957	Luxury version for the high demands of Swiss customers. Of the 6085 Opels from Biel in 1957, a maximum of 120 were Ascona.
Opel Rekord Ascona	1958	Luxury variant with the most powerful engine and two-tone paintwork from the Buick color palette. Of these, around 200 to 220 vehicles were built.
Chevrolet Bel Air	1959	Four-door sedan, 689 of which were manufactured that year.
Vauxhall Victor Super	1960	Also a limousine with four doors. In the year 1317 Vauxhall was built in Biel.
Chevrolet Corvair	1963	Sedan with a six-cylinder engine in the rear. GM Suisse manufactured Chevrolets in 1637, which were split between Corvair and Chevy II .
Opel Rekord 6	1967	Early version of the record C with six-cylinder engine from the introduction of the Opel Commodore A . Construction as a coupé . In that year 16,454 Opels were built in Biel.
Opel Kadett Ascona	1968	Own Swiss combination of the Kadett B with a record engine with 1700 cm³ displacement . Version as a four-door sedan.
Ranger 1900	1970	Own brand for the Swiss market as a replacement for Vauxhall models. Based on an Opel Rekord C with a front design that resembled Vauxhall cars. Issued as a two-door sedan. 391 rangers were created that year.
Ranger 2500 GTS	1971	Basis Opel Commodore A, with a different front. The GTS was the coupe.
Opel Manta A 1600 S.	1971	The Manta was only produced in Switzerland with a displacement of 1600 cc and only in small numbers. Many of them were Berlina versions with vinyl roofs and automatic transmissions .
Ranger 1900	1973	Base Opel Rekord D with a different radiator grille and double headlights. Only 35 coupes were made.
Soletta 750	1956	Referred to as the first Swiss concept car . Prototype of a small car with a two-door body from Carrosserie Hess .