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Yugo—of All Brands!—Is Rising from the Dead
Retro styling is making a comeback. Volkswagen funneled the spirit of the original Bus into the electric ID. Buzz, Renault brought back the 4 and the 5, and now, the Yugo brand is unexpectedly rising from the grave.
Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Bjelić, an engineer, economist, and professor with decades of experience in the car industry, is behind the project. He has already secured the funding required to buy the rights to the Yugo name, filed the required trademark applications all over the world, and commissioned a Serbian designer named Darko Marčeta to come up with a handful of early styling proposals, according to The Autopian.
Marčeta’s sketches depict a small, boxy hatchback inspired by the original Yugo, which was built from 1980 to 2008 and updated numerous times during its production run. It’s not 100 percent old-school, however, and styling cues such as LED headlights bring the Yugo into the modern era. The Rivian R3 draws from similar inspiration.
The retro treatment will also permeate the new Yugo’s market positioning. Like the original, which stood out as one of the cheapest new cars sold in the United States, it will be marketed as a relatively affordable model pegged at the lower end of the market. Yugo will source the car’s mechanical components, such as the platform, from a carmaker whose identity hasn’t been revealed yet in a bid to keep costs in check. It will also power the car with a combustion engine, though an electric model hasn’t been entirely ruled out.
Development work is ongoing, and Yugo plans to unveil a scale model of the hatchback before the end of 2025. The first running prototype is tentatively scheduled to debut at the 2027 Belgrade Expo. That’s over two years away, but we expect that more details about the brand, the car, and its plans for the future will trickle out in the coming months. Rebooting a long-dormant carmaker is no small task, after all.
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In the meantime, Yugo will retrace the tire tracks of a 1975 expedition that took five teams each driving a Zastava 101 from Kragujevac in Yugoslavia (now in Serbia) to Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The convoy will leave Serbia in 2026, but the five crews will be driving classic Yugo models rather than the older 101. It looks like the route will be a little different, too. Instead of driving to Greece, catching a ferry to Egypt, and driving south across Africa, they’ll head west toward Genoa, Italy, and disembark in Tunis, Tunisia.
The roughly 6300-mile trek will, in theory, prove just how tough the original Yugo can be. In turn, this will allow the born-again brand to drum up enthusiasm for its first car in almost two decades. Is this the best marketing tactic? Time will answer that. It’s certainly one of the most fun and adventurous ones, though.
What Do Yuno About Yugo?
The original Yugo made its debut as the Zastava Yugo 45 in 1980. It was closely related to the Fiat 128, though it was much shorter than its Italian sibling and it wasn’t initially developed for American roads. Malcolm Bricklin, who founded Subaru of America and designed the Bricklin SV-1, brought the Yugo to the United States for the 1986 model year and marketed it as a new car with the price tag of a used car.
At launch, the Yugo was offered only as a two-door hatchback with a 1.1-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 55 horsepower. Demand was initially high: Yugo sold 35,959 cars in 1986 and 48,812 cars in 1987. The GV (for “Great Value”—seriously!) trim was complemented by GVL, GVS, and GVX variants for 1988, but quality-related problems had already started to torpedo the Yugo’s reputation and sales embarked on a free fall. Yugo filed for bankruptcy in January 1989, returned in 1990 with a convertible, and closed again.
The little hatchback fared better in global markets. It was fairly popular in Eastern Europe, where it hasn’t fully disappeared from the automotive landscape, and it was also sold in some Western European markets as well as in several Latin American countries. Zastava gave the Yugo a significant but not entirely elegant facelift in 2000 and made a Peugeot-sourced engine available in 2003. Production finally ended in 2008 after approximately 800,000 units were built; in an odd twist of fate, Fiat absorbed Zastava and closed it all down.
Part of Yugo lives on, however. Remember the Fiat 500L? That crossover was manufactured in the former Yugo factory.
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You guys forgot one…
A guy walks into a parts store and says “I’ll take a gas cap for my Yugo.” The parts man says “That sounds like a fair trade to me!” 😀
so much good will remaining for the brand, how could it lose?
If priced correctly, and reasonably reliable, there might be a market for it. I know of people who don’t want a behemoth SUV or pickup, and lament the loss of the small (and “small profit”) cars.
Unless I am missing something, given the current tariff trajectory, by the time it gets across the border it will be the price of a loaded F-150 therefore unlikely to fall into the budget transportation category.
The Ford F-150 is only about 50% American made (like most cars sold in the U.S.), so the tariffs will put that off the budget as well !!
Better to let the dead rest in peace.
You never know what can transpire. I got involved with Hyundai when they first infested Canada in 1983. It still had points and condenser ignition. It also had a huge amount of money behind them
The mother company builds all sorts of products, like huge cargo ships. This once prompted one of our mechanics to say, “if they start making airplanes I’m moving underground”.
Sales were amazing considering the decades of development that went into a Japanize car at that time. Half the car for a third of the price. The used car department used the Pony to upsell to used Chevelles and Novas.
Look how far they’ve come in 40 years. Money and the right people can prosper in the car industry.
Just moved to hawaii and had to buy a car. Literally asked the salesman if he had a yugo for sale. No frills, cheap, and theres nothing above 45 mph. No luck.
I hope it will have a parachute option in case one would like to drive it over the Mackinac bridge.
Hate to bring this up but, the name, Yugo, reminds me of a tragedy during 1989, in Michigan .. when a Yugo, while driving over the Mackinaw Bridge, blew off it during high winds … the driver didn’t survive.
“blew off” is hyperbole according to sources: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/01/07/car-swept-off-mackinac-bridge/2502721002/
The driver swerved and hit the outer curb causing the vehicle to jump the outer guardrail. Wind, along with vehicle speed and weight are likely all factors, but just saying the car “blew off” paints an inaccurate picture.
To be clear, at that time for example Czechoslovakian Skoda was 1000 time worse then Yugo. Was breaking a lot, not depandable etc. Also French cars were drama and so on. Romanian Dacia as well, bad, and they still make them today. But not all the cars from West were good, then!! Only that Yugo was coming from communist country, that was the story behind, not becouse it was bad car. It was not Mercedes, but not bad at all. Skoda, afrter in cooperation with German WW, became great auto and went on with production and today we are here where we are. New times. Same for Yugo. It will be just a name from before, but with new 1.6 Toyota engine for example or in cooperation with Stilantis or some Chines company, it will be great car. Why not. And finally, Yugo was dependable litlle car that many could afford it at that time and families accros Jugoslavia were driving it without problems, summer or winter. Spare parts were cheap and easy reparable. Also from the same Zastava company 101 was popular auto that brings lots of good memories. So rebranding it is fantastic idea. As today Zastava is making FIAT with great success, same place, new production lines… So Yugo has a future for sure. Many will buy it. Prototype will be presented at Serbian Expo 2027. Already all in progress.
If it could be titled as a lawnmower, golf cart , handicapped person, ATV (alternative transportation vehicle) for ‘ limited use ‘ on some public roads we might just have a winner ! But we still have to change the name.
No we don’t. Actualy we have to keep the name and to remeber that car for ever. You are not the one to decide that. Name will stay to remind the humanity what your country did to Yugoslavia. So Yugo will go for ever… And if sombody is limited here it is you obviously.
Miloše. Da si zdrav ih veso a šta se tiče ameri? Ko ihm jebe majke.
My take on the Yugo: https://kevinoconnell.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Y-is-for-Yugo_H.jpg‘{
If you find a used Yugo for sale, they are worth more now than they were brand new! LOL
So I went into a NAPA store and asked the guy if he had a gas cap for a Yugo . Sure , he said , seems like a fair exchange to me !
I think there is a market for a bottom priced car. Send a kid off to college for 4 or 5 years, then dispose of it !