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Kaiserslautern. Facts and Figures

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At a glance

The plant at Kaiserslautern is the Opel/Vauxhall center of component manufacturing. Important components (aluminum hoods, front frames, suspensions and rear axles) are produced here.

The 1.9-liter and the 2.0-liter diesel engines are built at the Kaiserslautern site. In the engine remain area engines and cylinder heads are refined.

History Kaiserslautern Plant

• 1966 Plant opened.
• 1970 Start of production: chassis parts including rear axle, seat frames.
• 1972 Pressing plant is built, and is expanded step by step from the original 7,600 to 45,000 square meters today.
• 1976 For its tenth anniversary, the plant gets the largest multi-stage press in Europe at the time (weight 650 t, press capacity 3,600 t).
• 1979 Production of engine components begins.
• 1980 On Dec. 10 the first engine, with 1.6-liter displacement, is built in the Kaiserslautern plant.
• 1981 Start of production of 4-cylinder unit engine family II with 1.8 and 2.0-liter displacements.
• 1989 Start of production of drive shafts.
• 1991 Start of production of drive shaft joints.
• 1993 The first power steering systems “Made in Kaiserslautern” are built.
• 1994 Foundation stone for new DI diesel engine plant is laid.
• 1995 The opening of the parts distribution center revolutionizes plant logistics.
• 1996 Start of production of state-of-the-art direct injection ECOTEC diesel engine generation (2.0 DI, 2.0 DTI and 2.2 DTI)
• 1997 Five-millionth family II engine built.
• 1999 Termination of traditional engine production; over 5.6 million units built in 20 years.
• 1999 Construction of production facilities for completely new aluminum engine begins in Kaiserslautern. Capacity will be up to 460,000 engines per year.
• 2000 Capacity of DI engine plant again increased to 330,000 units annually.
• 2001 Opel Powertrain GmbH takes over responsibility for engine plants. Another  milestone: start of production of alloy engines.
• 2002 In the spring Opel begins with production of aluminum parts for the new Vectra.
• 2004 Production anniversary: on Sept. 20, Opel employees produce the 500,000 ^th aluminum hood for an Opel Signum. In July, preparatory work begins in Hall K1 for new engine and cylinder head assembly for the 1.9-liter diesel engine with common-rail direct injection.
• 2005 Start of new diesel engine production.
• 2006 Opel reaches milestone of 40 years of production
• 2008 Production of Insignia components like aluminum hoods, front frames, suspensions and rear axles2009 500,000 ^th B diesel engine
• 2010 Modernization of the press shop
• 2011 GMAS Health & Safety Audit with “Satisfactory”
• 2013 Production of the 1-millionth B-Diesel