Astra OPC arrives with a reputation EVERY self-respecting brand needs a performance division and General Motors' troubled European arm Opel needs all the respect it can get. The loss-making German carmaker has been living with a question mark over its future since GM almost sold it during the global financial crisis. Just as Opel was launching in Australia last September, its boardroom was in chaos and there was confusion about how it would co-exist with Chevrolet, GM's other mainstream European brand. It finished 2012 with sales down almost 16 per cent - worse than the dire European market overall.