Opel Motors opens for business in Germany

First Automobiles. The first Opel production Patent Motor Car was built in Rüsselsheim in early 1899. These initial vehicles were not very successful: a total of 65 motor cars were delivered, with eleven in 1899, twenty-four in 1900, and thirty in 1901. The partnership with Lutzmann was dissolved after two years, and in 1901 Opel signed a licensing agreement with the French Automobiles Darracq France to manufacture vehicles under the brand name Opel Darracq. The first cars were built after Adam Opel's death, when the company was owned and operated by his widow and their five sons.

Rüsselsheim. Rüsselsheim am Main is the largest city in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is the location where the Opel company was founded and where the first cars were built. The city has historical connections to wine-growing estates in the Rheingau area.