The man who is supposed to lead Opel into the future came of age in 1995. It was one of those years in which the car manufacturer from Rüsselsheim once again produced particularly bad headlines: quality defects, allegations of corruption, recalls and high losses. Jokes like this were circulating in the country: An Opel driver says in the spare parts shop that he would like two windshield wipers for his Opel. Seller: “That sounds like a fair exchange!”

Florian Huettl was not deterred by the bad image. His first car was supposed to be an Opel Corsa A, built in 1984. “The Corsa and I had three wonderful years until the TÜV separated us,” he says today.

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