Opel is celebrating a very special anniversary. For 160 years, the brand with the lightning bolt emblem has been making innovations affordable for a wide audience. This was ensured by Adam Opel himself when he founded the company in August 1862 – and later by his five sons – and his wife Sophie, who energetically participated in the further development of the company and can therefore be considered the first female manager of a sewing machine, bicycle and automobile brand.
The beginning: from sewing machines to the biggest bicycle maker in the world
The success story began at the end of August 1862. Adam Opel assembled his first sewing machine in Rüsselsheim, laying the foundation stone for the young Opel company.
The company soon developed into one of the largest sewing machine manufacturers in Germany and exported to the whole of Europe. After the sewing machines, Opel built up its next successful pillar with the bicycle, becoming the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer.
