The Yugo is no more

Serbian auto maker Zastava ended production of the Yugo on Friday

Yugo production line

by Alex Ricciuti
November 22, 2008 12:09 AM
Filed Under: European, Industry

Serbian auto maker Zastava ended production of the Yugo on Friday, after 30 years, 800,000 cars and just as many jokes.

The plant site that produces the Yugo will now be converted to a FIAT facility and will be making about 200,000 cars a year for the Italian auto maker.

The Yugo debuted in 1978 and reached peak production in 1989 with 220,000 units.

But Zastava has said it will sell its assembly lines for the Yugo and that several companies are interested in the technology.

Really? There are people who want to buy the Yugo technology?

Yes, the Yugo is no more. But the jokes keep coming.

Source: reuters.com

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Comments

Motor_Yakuza

November 22, 2008 12:30 AM

Is this a car? looks like 100 year old.

Tuner_Mad

November 22, 2008 12:45 AM

Question: 'Y u go?'

Answer: 'Cos I'm going to retirement.' that's another joke...

paulbe

November 22, 2008 12:48 AM

For a joke car, it certainly lasted. Laugh well, but there aren't too many others from the class of 78 that made it this far.

machida

November 22, 2008 1:08 AM

Keep in mind it was already dated at launch, being based on the old Fiat 127. Funny that the plant will convert to making newer Fiats. I can't imagine who will buy the "technology" (ahem) from this plant. A Fourth World manufacturer? A car maker from another planet? The Amish?

BabyMilo

November 22, 2008 2:27 AM

how on earth did it last that long?!? and who would buy one today???

janobr

November 22, 2008 3:25 AM

the only reason why they were still made was because they were for the post YUGOslavian market, for the few countries in europe which stayed in the same shape, essentially, since the USSR has collapsed, the separation of yugoslavia and the wars and genocide in the Balkans kept the area in a 3rd world country state up until just few years ago, and while other eastern block countries like Poland or Czech Republic moved on and now are pretty much up to the highest Western Europe Standards, the yugo nations are about as economicly and technologically advanced as Mongolia.

gorgonzola

November 23, 2008 3:44 PM

well said msinisa....yeah American market doing real well hey...they just cant stop those cars flying of the showrooms....time for America to smell the cheese....time for some panic and hunger to kick in.

xxx

November 23, 2008 6:42 PM

mongolia? have you ever been in any of thoose "yugo nation" countrys? Yugo was allways a crap car just as american cars today

Panamera

November 22, 2008 6:17 AM

lol didnt even know this existed

perastikos

November 22, 2008 11:04 AM

i bought a yugo 10 years ago to have a secondary car for moving around the city and after 100.000km the engine still holds tight. The radio and the heater which are the only equipment almost never worked(lol...) but at least it didn't break down, unlike my peugeot 406 which is much worse in terms of reliability(i do mean it)!

msinisa

November 22, 2008 12:41 PM

Yugo, new one costs 3500 euros, it's new spare parts are 10 times cheaper than any other. YUGO was able to make 300.000 km with little money spent to repair. Because of deepening economic chrisis in USA, a great export opportunity was missed.

ck314

November 23, 2008 12:21 AM

lmao who in the hell would buy, let alone homologate such piece of crap devoid of the most rudimentary safety or comfort features in the west?

stani

November 22, 2008 5:34 PM

The last Yugo will be manufactured in December. What do you think, when the last GM will be manufactured? Maybe before that :)!

msinisa

November 22, 2008 5:39 PM

I agree, Yugo made profit, not a debt like GM

alessandro

November 22, 2008 9:44 PM

Lada and no speaking Trabant, all these were absolute profitable unlike GM.

ck314

November 23, 2008 12:18 AM

Opel also made profits, comparing Yugo to GM is plainly absurd.

janobr

November 23, 2008 9:44 PM

That was directed to the years during and right after the wars, so to about 2000? or so, country after 50 years of Communism and then 10 years or civil wars tend to be in horrible states, and i'm not saying it to offend any yugoslavians, but i was there during the ends of the war with peace corps and the Balkans, as sad as it makes me feel to say, but were pretty much completely run sack and destroyed, the politics and the economy was pretty much completely corrupt, and the native technology was ruined by war and what technologies were in place, were left overs from what the USSR has given yugoslavia, so the same technologies that were available to Mongolians. So if you think about I'm not exactly wrong, and me Being European and very proud of it, it hurts horrible to admit it, but my statement up until about the year 2000 stood true.

mps

November 22, 2008 11:19 PM

That was to janobr.

janobr

November 23, 2008 4:07 AM

how is that?

mps

November 23, 2008 11:58 AM

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the car. "the yugo nations are about as economicly and technologically advanced as Mongolia." but that's how.

Michael

November 23, 2008 9:49 AM

Janobr is right. And the reference to Mongolia was a figure of speech. A few words about such cars: uncomfortable, not environmental friendly, not reliable and oudated technology. It was the same with Romanian brand Dacia, which was the result of a co-operation with Renault (in fact, originally was a Renault model). After that, almost no development in decades. After the fall of the communism, Renault came back and bought Dacia plant. And built a brand new model: Logan. The difference between the old Dacia and Logan is huge, even if Logan is a low-cost brand. I hope what I said does not make me an idiot...

geza

November 23, 2008 1:12 PM

I'll miss these cars, but 250.000 of them are still on the streets :)

msinisa

November 23, 2008 1:29 PM

I am sorry but American cars aren't reliable, they aren't economic, and can't be compared to Yugo in terms of saving money. On the other hand American cars can't be compared to Japanese or German. So in reality, bankrupt US car industry and economy are what you deserve.

msinisa

November 23, 2008 1:31 PM

I never bought American crap cars, it was always Japanese or German, or even Yugo. I just can't see the reason American car industry to exist.

Michael

November 23, 2008 8:29 PM

If Yugo had been profitable, it wouldn't have been bought by Fiat. It would have been otherwise. Or Zastava would have now made an offer to GM for buying Opel :-) I live in an Eastern European country bordering former Yugoslavia. But I have never heard of Yugo in my entire life. And I'm born in the late 60'. Comparing Yugo with Opel is like comparing former Yugoslavia with USA. Because I live in a former communist country I can understand such national feelings (and joy), especially when the car is named YUGO(slavia) and the most representative American car manufacturer is about to declare bankruptcy...

BENZian

November 23, 2008 9:52 PM

...this discussion gave me a good laugh but seriously...don't confuse national pride with an automakers profitability. Yugo were slightly above a horse and carriage. The Hyundai's of the 1990s were more reliable and we know they were crap. GM will not collaspe. No matter how much rhetoric the various american politicians spew the US simply cannot afford to allow it. GM has a measurable impact on the gdp of the US of A and allowing it to collaspe would cost far more than $25-$50 billion and cost upwards of 3 million in job losses and possible failure of the supply companies...which could then lead to the failure of at least 1 more American automaker. IF the supply companies fail their other clients including Ford, Chrysler, Nissan, Toyota and just about any automaker producing vehicles in the USA would also suffer collateral damage. I honestly wish the american politicians would stop the verbal nonsense and do what needs to be done to help GM, Ford & Chrysler...it's ridiculous that we authorized $750 billion to save Wall Street companies and we are squabbling over $ 25-$50 billion to save the Big 3.

abey

November 24, 2008 6:04 AM

Whats ridiculous is that the USA has so much control over the world! we are letting the american government decide whether to save what is basically the key to the world's economy. If GM crashes, and the supply companies follow suit, the car market wont just be ruined in america but will have repercussions in the rest of the world also!

msinisa

November 24, 2008 9:29 AM

I can't believe people still don't know that Yugoslavia never had any links with the USSR (a leftover from USSR technology hahah) Zastava was producing Fiat's models.

Second, I don't think the world would "go down" if GM goes bankrupt. That is one of the things I was never able to understand, Americans think everything is on them, maybe it used to be, but the world changed. Yugo at least is world champion in saving money. As I said, I would never buy crap US cars, I have 3 cars, one is Yugo, Octavia and Mazda 3.

A friend of mine bought 20 Yugo cars for his enterprise, he paid them arround 60.000 euro, instead of spending 200.000 euro for skoda roomsters. So he saved 140.000 euro, he likes it, but Fiat or Skoda doesn't. After 5 years they are working, doing the job. Repairing costs are cheapest in the world. He never had any major breakdown with any of them. So guys, it's wrong to write about things you know nothing about.

Michael

November 24, 2008 10:53 AM

"Why do Yugos have heated rear windows? To keep your hands warm while you are pushing them in the winter!" or "What do you call a Yugo at the top of the hill? A miracle!" Well, one thing is certain: a lot of jokes have been made about this car. Just search the Internet... And an article from BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7739319.stm

msinisa

November 24, 2008 11:03 AM

Tell to my friend jokes, he eg. his company saved 140.000 euros for using jugo instead of skoda roomster.

ck314

November 26, 2008 3:10 PM

if one of those 20 employees were ever involved in a serious crash the roomster would save their lives, so i guess there are jokes about yugo's being coffins on wheels too!

Michael

November 24, 2008 1:58 PM

Good for your friend's company budget! You say that he bought Yugos instead of Roomster. And those Yugos are still running after 5 years. Well, Roomster was launched only in 2006. Allow me another joke just to support what you said (about being cheap): "How do you double the value of a Yugo?" "Fill the gas tank!"

msinisa

November 24, 2008 2:07 PM

There wasn't roomster 5 years ago, but there was skoda karavan, it's the same thing, same use, same price. In Belgrade, enterprises would buy jugo or skoda for delivery. There are jokes for almost any car made on this planet. We joke about Dacia, Trabant, Vartburg, Jeep, etc

politz

November 24, 2008 5:48 PM

never thought i'd ever read 'yugo' and 'technology' on the same sentence... it's like 'martha stewart' and 'sexy' on the same page.

msinisa

November 24, 2008 6:39 PM

Yugo and technology is like GM and profit

The Yugo is no more

Serbian auto maker Zastava ended production of the Yugo on Friday

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