General Motors has announced the exit of its Opel brand from Russia market by December 2015 as well as planned an overhaul of its entire business model in the country.
Apart from taking off its Opel brand, the company will also minimize the presence of its Chevrolet brand.
GM said that it would concentrate on the premium segment of the Russian market with Cadillac, and the US built Chevrolet products including Corvette, Camaro and Tahoe.
Just like Nissan, the Detroit based automaker is also planning to pause the production by the middle of 2015 at its St. Petersburg plant, and the Chevrolet vehicles at GAZ will be discontinued this year in Russia.
GM president Dan Ammann said: "This change in our business model in Russia is part of our global strategy to ensure long-term sustainability in markets where we operate.
"This decision avoids significant investment into a market that has very challenging long-term prospects."
By overhauling its business model in Russia, GM expects to record net special charges of up to approximately $600m in the first quarter of 2015.
The special charges will include dealer restructuring, sales incentives, contract cancellations and severance-related cost, and $200m of the net special charges will be non-cash expenses.
