General Motors Corp., which has been struggling to revive itself, will stop selling Opel vehicles in Japan, the U.S. automaker's Japanese unit said Tuesday.
Opel's sales in Japan lagged at 1,800 vehicles last year, down from their peak in 1996 at more than 30,000, said GM Asia Pacific (Japan) spokeswoman Ayako Uchida, adding that Opel sales will end before the end of the year as inventory runs out.
Opel will target Europe, and GM will instead push in Japan its global brands, including the Cadillac, Chevrolet and Saab, Uchida said.
Opel cars are made by Adam Opel AG, a German subsidiary of General Motors.
GM reported Monday a $445 million profit in the first quarter of this year, compared with a loss of $1.3 billion in the January-March period a year ago. It was GM's first quarterly profit since 2004.
Last month, the world's largest automaker reported a preliminary first-quarter loss of $323 million but said the results could be revised. The revision was for changes in how GM accounts for a health-care agreement and other items.
Import sales fall 2.5%
Sales of imported cars in April, including those made by Japanese makers overseas, fell 2.5 percent from a year ago to 16,645 vehicles, an industry body said Tuesday.
Sales of automobiles produced by non-Japanese makers inched down 0.7 percent to 15,642, while sales of vehicles made by Japanese firms overseas fell 23.3 percent to 1,003, the Japan Automobile Importers Association said.