The Associated Press (via The Detroit News) reports that the car company that built the Yugo will be up for sale come springtime. Zastava is government-owned carmaker. Is only one in Serbia. With an asking price of less than $4k, the Yugo (I bet you were thinking the company) arrived in the US in 1986. The lackluster Yugo quickly became the poster child for cheaply made cars; Consumer Reports magazine claimed it “barely qualified as a car." Zastava produced some 15k cars in 2006, which is “far below” the company's potential capacity of 60k cars a year. Looking for a way out of the car biz, the government’s Privatization Agency placed an ad in the Politika Daily newspaper announcing that some 90 percent of the company’s shares will be sold off next April. The asking price for Zastava will be made public in the spring, but privatization minister Mladjan Dinkic says he expects “at least two major international companies to take part in the bidding." Perhaps VW fancies one more European economy brand to add to SEAT, Skoda and VW. Perhaps not.
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I wonder if Malcolm Bricklin has an eye on this after he was burned by Chery.
Nice racing seat – it goes well with those painted steel rims.
I actually “drove” Zastava’s copy of the Fiat 500 through an ancient waadi and up and down various sand dunes in Egypt’s western desert back in high school (long story.) Several of us did whatever we could think of to destroy the thing, and after several hours we gave up and ended-up giving it to a tribesman who was watching us amusingly the entire time. He stripped it for parts for his donkey cart.
I drove a yugo in 1986. Probably the slowest car I ever drove. I didn’t think tires were made for cars that small.
A friend bought one with the 75K extended warranty. Dealer went out of business 6 months later fixing them. He was still driving it when a careless driver totaled it in a parking lot. He was not driving it at the time, it was parked. The tow truck driver remarked that it was the lightest car he ever towed away.
I think top speed was around 75 with a tailwind,
The Yugo’s styling was a line-by-line copy of the Mk. I VW Rabbit (Golf)–which was, and still is, an attractive car. Unfortunately, they did not have the good sense to copy the Rabbit’s engine, drivetrain, suspension, electrical system, . . . .
“With an asking price of less than $4k, the Yugo (I bet you were thinking the company) arrived in the US in 1986.”
Good one. I WAS thinking of the company. Thanks for the laugh.
Good thing that person put the racing seat in. My former in-laws bought 2 of those new to use as commuter cars. Car number one’s driver’s seat back broke after 10,000 miles when my brother-in-law reached into his pocket to get change for a toll. Car number two’s engine seized around 65000 miles after the block cracked. The block cracked? How often do you hear that one? I bought them a wrecked one for a donor engine, after which they sold both cars ASAP for cents on the dollar vs what they paid.
Oh, the dealer did nothing for either failure, and went out of business leaving a lot of people holding the bag. The seat failure was denied warranty service since they said my brother in law “did something” to it.
The seat failure was denied warranty service since they said my brother in law “did something” to it.
He must have had the nerve to sit on it.
The emergency brake lever snapped off the Yugo my buddy owed, he was foolish enough to set it when he parked the car. I told him the e-brake was only for emergency in a yugo, not for daily use!
The Yugo sold in the US was based on the Fiat 127, which explains many things…..
I actually “drove” Zastava’s copy of the Fiat 500 through an ancient waadi and up and down various sand dunes in Egypt’s western desert back in high school (long story.)
I had a real Fiat 500 years ago and it was truly indestructible, although a kit of tools had better be on board. About every 100 miles, the exhaust pipes would vibrate loose from the cylinders. The noise would slowly increase until I would get out and tighten them up. I finally installed safety wired aircraft studs and solved that problem.
The second problem was oil leaks around the cylinder bases. The oil would accumulate on top of the crankcase until I accelerated (if you can call it that) and dribble on the muffler, leaving a trail of smoke in my wake. I used to treat tailgaters to a smoke screen by flooring it at stop signs.
The car got me back and forth to work and to reserves for three years and it was still going strong for a friend when I moved away several years later.”
“The Yugo’s styling was a line-by-line copy of the Mk. I VW Rabbit ”
Actually it was based on the Fiat 127/128 family and was built under license from Fiat.
VW hired Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign to do the original Golf/Rabbit design and he did something in the then current Italian small car idiom. A very nice piece of work, but certainly not at all original to VW. Fiat was there ahead of VW by a decade or more.
I was amazed to see a Yugo setting in the parking lot of a shopping mall in TN maybe 3-4 years ago. Wish I had stuck around to talk to the driver.
Also, I remember when the US was involved in bombing Yugoslavia a few years ago and being puzzled that we had bombed the Yugo factory where some kind of trucks, IIRC, were made for their military. I thought we’d have better hindered their operation letting them keep producing and (try to) use what came out of the factory.
I remember test driving a Red ’88 model at Palmetto Ford (which had Yugo and even the Fiat X 1/9, for a short time) and while shifting I could see through the gearshift boot to the pavement. Just one of those things you just don’t forget. I went a bought a base model Nissan Hardbody truck later that day. Has it really been almost 20 years ago?
I remember a classmate at university purchased one of these new to get around. The car was noteworthy in that it was the only vehicle I have ever seen that rust through the middle of the roof first. Quite a distinction.
@PAHASKA:
“About every 100 miles, the exhaust pipes would vibrate loose from the cylinders. The noise would slowly increase until I would get out and tighten them up.”
That’s a cool story.
@tdoyle:
We had a family friend who lived at our compound in Rome, circa 1979, who was fortunate enough o be at a light when her car seat crashed through the rusted-out floor of her immaculate 1978 white X1/9. It doesn’t rain in Rome very much at all.