What successful European operation? Opel is bleeding cash and has been for years. The only success GM has had in Europe recently is the (re)introduction of Chevy to the continent. Before that, Chevys were all just re-badge Daewoos and justifiably looked at by the Europeans for what they were.
No, GM's return to profitability rests on the North American market and China. In the US, GM brought small car production back to North America. The new Chevy Sonic is built here and the Cruze is also built here. To be fair, the Cruze replaced the Cobalt that was also built here, but the Lordstown plant now produces Cruzes for global consumption rather than just North American consumption.
The "new" Chevy Cruze has been on sale here in Turkey since 2009 and are real common on the roads. One of my employees has been driving one for two years. It's not bad, but... meh.
The Cruze was designed by Daewoo and engineered by Opel. It's production sites are in Korea, India, Russia, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. The Lordstown plant is the most recent production site and started production summer of 2010 and is for
local consumption. The Cruze was old news in the rest of the world before it ever hit U.S. roads.
It's had a successful racing program here in Europe since 2009.
Opel's engineering is a key to GM's comeback. They were lucky to have not sold Opel in 2009. The "new" Buick Regal is a re-badge Opel that has been around here for three years and it very popular. It was built in Germany and China since 2008. North American production didn't start in Canada until February 2011.
On topic, Obama's decision to rescue and temporarily take over GM and Chrysler, saved millions of American jobs, and is one reason the unemployment situation in the USA is turning around. Which of course is the worst news possible for the Republicans. Obama is even a better venture capitalist than Romney.