General Motors has announced plans to “change its business model” in Russia, which is a gentle way of calling it quits for the third time in a few years time. In 2013, GM withdrew Opel from the Australian market after less then one year of trying. A few months later, Chevrolet was announced to quit the European car market (excluding Russia) in order to give Opel a shot at returning to profitability. And in a final attempt to stop the bleeding of cash at its European operations, both brands will say “пока-пока” to the Russian market.
Opel Group CEO Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann said, “We do not have the appropriate localization level for important vehicles built in Russia and the market 
environment does not justify a major investment to further localize.” With which they mean they’ve completely misjudged the market and failed to offer a competitive, locally built subcompact sedan to defend itself against the surging Hyundai Solaris (a.k.a. Accent outside of Russia), Kia Rio and Renault Logan.
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