When the Yugo first arrived on our shores in 1985, it made headlines with its bargain basement $4,000 USD price tag. Of course, four large didn't buy you much of anything, except for a series of breakdowns and the laughter of virtually every motorist that easily passed you by. While the Yugo hasn't been sold in the U.S. since 1991, for the right price you can now bid for the distinct pleasure of owning Zastava, the Serbian company responsible for producing and exporting the biggest punch line in automotive history. The government of Serbia has announced that Zastava, the country's only automaker, is selling off over 90% of its shares this coming April for an undisclosed amount. While the eastern European automaker employs 4,000 workers and can build up to 60,000 vehicles per year, but currently the factory is only producing 15,000 units.
The Yugo was such a disaster when it hit the States, it seemed as though every comedian was required by law to make at least one joke about it. It didn't help that one Yugo owner was killed when the cheap compact became the one and only vehicle ever to be blown off the Mackinaw bridge that connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. If the price is right, though, we're sure someone will sop up the company, if only for the production capacity and cheap Eastern European labor.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Playdrv4me @ Dec 27th 2007 11:38AM
Oh this should be good...
MUSASHI66 @ Dec 27th 2007 11:53AM
I know I am going to get flamed for this one... but here it goes. I am from Serbia, and back there, in the 80's and 90's, Yugo's were good cars to own. They were cheaper than anything else on the streets, save for Zastava 750 and 850 (versions of Fiat 600). My uncle back home still owns one, with some 130.000 miles on it, and it runs good. He can rebuild the engine with less than $200. Its converted to use LPG, so it is super cheap to run considering high cost of gas in Europe. You can squeeze 4, or even 5 people inside, if you must. You can fix pretty much anything on that car alone.
Now, Zastava makes Zastava 10, which is based on Fiat Punto, and it is a nice little car for eastern europe markets. Any car is better than no car :)
In Serbia, there are plenty of new cars these days, but taxes and customs on imported vehicles are sky high, in the neighborhood of 40% on the price of the car. For a price of Golf in Serbia, you can easily buy a Passat in states.
psarhjinian @ Dec 27th 2007 12:18PM
The problem with Yugo is, quite frankly, that they were benchmarking (or outright copying) Fiat. That's not exactly starting with a solid foundation.
Cool as the Punto is, it's also afflicted by typical Italian engineering; older models are worse. Much worse. Yugo probably ought to have knocked off the Honda Civic, Toyota Starlet or anything by Daihatsu. That might've at least put them on a decent footing.
Yugos weren't great, but I think you have to remember that they're period pieces. A European-native Daihastsu, Fiat, Renault or VW from the same era isn't much better.
MUSASHI66 @ Dec 27th 2007 12:24PM
Every car that Zastava ever made was a Fiat - licensed car. There are hundreds of thousands yugos/101/128/ models still running in ex-yugoslavia. Zastava is now making Zastava 10, for less than 8000 euros, which is a great price for a car in that part of the world.
I hope that someone like Honda buys them, but it is not going to happen. They made 10000 cars last year, and they used to make 250.000 car per year. Sad ending for a once good company.
At least they still make great weapons :)
Red Star @ Dec 27th 2007 11:56AM
Yugo was a great car. Problems are people in the States who drove them and never took any care of them. I'm from Serbia and I see many older Yugos on the streets.
YUGO JE ZAKON OD AUTA.
MUSASHI66 @ Dec 27th 2007 12:11PM
Slazem se zemljak :)
Napred Zvezdo!
Juvenille @ Dec 30th 2007 5:42PM
I just knew that there a bunch of Serbian guys would come up and praise Yugo like it's the best car in the world. The car's a disaster and that's why it was so unsucessful in the USA. Stop being so damn proud, you're only making a fool out of yourself.
KEVU VI JEBEM SRPSKU, KOSOVO REPUBLIKA USTASI SRPSKI.
MCS05 @ Dec 27th 2007 11:58AM
Of course you mean Mackinac Bridge.
Gregg @ Dec 27th 2007 1:35PM
Yup. They spelled in phonetically, like the city does. But you are right...the bridge ends in a silent "c."
MJL @ Dec 27th 2007 12:11PM
OK question. So you linked to an internet forum (admittedly, one from the mythbusters website.) This is not exactly an authoritative link. Moreover, the person is asking whether the story is true, and says she came across it on an automotive blog. Interesting.
MCS05 @ Dec 27th 2007 12:13PM
the story is true.
MUSASHI66 @ Dec 27th 2007 12:16PM
It is true, I read it on a Serbian news website, but I am to lazy to look for translated pages.
http://www2.serbiancafe.com/lat/vesti/9/43559/
Basically, a minister of economy in Serbian government is talking about how he hopes that at least two companies will bid for Zastava. They want to sell 99.1% of the company, and the remaining .9% is owned by the small guys.
Mr. Oak @ Dec 27th 2007 12:13PM
I remember when some Cadillac dealers in the Northeast would throw in a "free" Yugo with the purchase of every Allante.
@ Red Star: These cars were not built for the US market. Even with prescribed maintenance they would not have held up to the rigors of being a daily driver for the typical American motorist.
You don't have to believe me, just ask Peugeot, Fiat, Renault, Alpha Romeo. All marques that I hold in higher esteem than Yugo, and they found the going in this market very tough.
MUSASHI66 @ Dec 27th 2007 12:20PM
What rigors of being a daily driver in USA are different than say in Belgrade? Traffic jams? Check. Travel to work for 5-10 miles? Check? My uncle drives his every day, and it works fine.
I think it was the lack of dealer network and cheap car image that killed Yugo. Seriously, if you bought the cheapest car in the US because you could not afford a better one, would you take it back to the dealership for regular maintenance? Back home, every mechanic on every street corner can fix a Yugo, and parts are available in every car parts store. It was not the case in the USA.
There is just not that much on a Yugo that can break down. I don't think that Yugo was any worst than Geo Metro or some other period POS.
psarhjinian @ Dec 27th 2007 12:27PM
It's not so much the rigour of the American drive (though Detroit and New York potholes could probably swallow a mid-80s Eurobox whole) but the generally poor reliability of _any_ non-Japanese car from the 1980s combined with the poor parts availability that typified ownership of something like a Fiat or Renault.
It sucked to have to tow in your Ford or Chevy, but at least you'd get out the same day and the dealerships were dime-a-dozen. If your LeCar needed repairs, it was a hundred kilometers away from a dealer and four thousand kilometers (and two months) away from the necessary parts.
Seriously. The only reason the Swedes and Germans weren't chased off like the rest of Europe was is that the cars weren't _quite_ as bad and the parts availability was _just good enough_ to not terminally piss customers off.
500 @ Dec 28th 2007 12:10AM
MUSASHI66, how's the climate there? I live in New England, and practically every Yugo I saw in the 1990's was riddled with rust holes. I've only seen one surviving example in the last ten years.
DADO @ Dec 27th 2007 12:22PM
Story is true - Zastava is for sale
Yugo is still a good car for Serbia and the rest of eastern Europe
Cheap to buy, drives from A to B and cheaper to maintain
Having a Yugo is better then not having a car - statement is 100% correct
Zvezda!!!!
MUSASHI66 @ Dec 27th 2007 12:26PM
Jos jedan zvezdas :)
Koliko to srba dolazi na ovaj forum? Odakle ste momci?
Zrenjanin - Denver.
Red Star @ Dec 27th 2007 2:07PM
Kninska Krajina - Wisconsin
calebe @ Dec 27th 2007 12:23PM
Yugo's problems were that they were old school tech. Timing belts that had to be changed at about 40,000 miles which as we know Americas would never do. For your 4 grand you basically got a 1972 Fiat along with bent valves and busted pistons when that belt broke. Had a more modern engine been used I think they would have lasted. Look at Hyundai. The Excel was a huge POS too but they improved. I have a neighbor that still has a GV. It still runs well. For trips to the store its just fine. Yes, it is about as well equiped as a school bus and just about as good looking. It's fun to go see him in it.