General Motors always nags about how Opel is losing money and they want to get it rid of it, but as far as we can work out the German car maker has been quite successful in recent years. As a sign of that, the 500,000th Opel Insignia – the car that is also produced as a Vauxhall in the UK and as a Buick in America – rolled off the production line of the Rüsselsheim plant. Maybe GM’s right though, maybe Opel needs a better owner!

The Insignia was first introduced in 2008 to replace the Vectra. It is such a lovely mid-size sedan that since then it’s more than 50 national and international prizes, including the prestigious “Car of The Year Award 2009.” In addition, for the second consecutive year, the Insignia was the segment leader for fewest faults in the 2012 DEKRA used car report. As mentioned it’s also being produced in other countries.

The 500,000th Insignia is a white Sports Tourer wagon. About 40 percent of total Insignias produced at the Rüsselsheim plant are Sports Tourers, 40 percent hatchbacks and 20 percent are notchbacks. Our favorite would be a notchback with the 320 PS OPC engine.