At one point Opel were Germanys largest car manufacture and had maintained a wide presence all over mainland Europe. GM had become a major shareholder in the 20’s and the company essentially built scaled down versions of American influenced cars. Opel soon created more suitable cars after the war and imports into the UK started in 1967 (having last imported cars into the UK in 1939) By the mid 70’s Opels were virtually identical to their Vauxhall counterparts but imports still continued. Opel badged cars were finally phased out for UK export in 1988 with the demise of the long running Manta.