Saturday morning, a car park on the M2 motorway between Minsk and Moscow. From the Opel Agila to the Opel Zafira, hundreds of vehicles with the Blitz on the radiator grille roll up in bright sunshine, including classics like the Opel Kapitän. It is the biggest Opel get-together since the brand’s return to Russia, featuring live music, test drives with the current model range – and a sea of beaming faces. The aim is to create an Opel Blitz with the vehicles that have arrived. On an area the size of four football fields.

So the proud owners meticulously park their Insignia, Astra and co. in formation, starting with the flash, then forming the circle. In the end, there are 536 Opel vehicles. Even if it’s not enough for the planned world record, the 1,500 fans who travelled to the event celebrated a huge Opel festival. “It was a very important event for the brand and it was fantastic to feel the people’s joy about the return of Opel to Russia,” says Senior Vice President Xavier Duchemin, Head of Eurasia Region.

The Opel brand returned to Russia at the end of 2019. The Russian plant in Kaluga now produces the Zafira Life family van, the Vivaro van and a Combo specifically for the Russian market. In addition, the Grandland X from the German plant in Eisenach and the Crossland from Zaragoza in Spain are imported to Russia.