If you’re going new car shopping right now, the least expensive car you can buy is the base model Hyundai Venue compact crossover, which costs an absurd $22,650. A Yugo GV (standing for “Great Value”) cost only $3,990 in 1985, which is a ridiculously affordable inflation-adjusted $12,427 today. The Yugo gets all kinds of criticism for its poor quality and questionable reliability, but a compact, fuel-sipping economy car no longer exists at a reasonable price, and that’s a real shame. More than 140,000 of these little machines were sold to American buyers, so where did they all go?
At a time when other bare-bones vehicles like the Toyota Tercel or Ford Escort cost around $6,000, the Zastava-built and Malcolm Bricklin-imported Yugo GV was an economical proposition for the working class. Presumably it was successful, about 50,000 were purchased in 1987 alone. With inflation numbers similar to what we’re seeing today and the “Black Monday” stock market crash, it makes sense that American car buyers were looking for a cheaper way to get around.
However, there were some catches for the cheaper eras. It wasn’t a great car by any means, and it’s priced worse than today’s luxury EVs. They also broke, rusted and generally fell apart. There are not many cars from the period between 1985 and 1992 left on the road today, but a surprisingly small number of them are Yugos. According to Experian research, per koha.netOnly 408 were still registered for road use in 2022, and North American Yugo Registry Today there are only 40 in its list. Where did they all go? Some cheap cars may be available in the American market right now.
What is the history of Yugo?
Zastava Automobiles began as a cannon and weapons manufacturer in the 1850s, and began building Ford trucks for the Yugoslavian armed forces in the 1930s. We don’t really need to go into the entire history of Zastava, but the company behind the Yugo wasn’t just a flash-in-the-pan startup that fizzled out, it’s a legitimate 173-year-old business that still exists today, just not selling cars in the American market. In fact, the Yugo GV was actually a smaller version of the famous Fiat 127 family sedan.
The Fiat was a revolutionary car for Europe when it was introduced, adopting the then-successful transverse-mounted front-engine front-drive layout that most cars use today. However, by the time Zastava produced its hatchback-sized version in 1980, the new front-drive Fiat for 1969 was already technically and dynamically outdated. As the company was preparing to discontinue its Fiat 600-based Zastava 750, which was its best-selling car at the time, it was looking for a new source of operating capital.
At the same time the company’s home, Yugoslavia, was experiencing a severe economic crisis and it approached international dealmaker Armand Hammer (great-grandfather of actor Armie Hammer) to identify markets where the country could export to shore up its finances. Hammer suggested Kragujevac-based Zastava as a good first step. The car debuted at the 1984 Los Angeles Auto Show and Bricklin booked a flight to Yugoslavia to negotiate becoming the primary importer of the car.
Equipped with a Fiat-sourced 1,100 cc engine, the car produced a meager 55 horsepower and was only good for 86 mph, although in return it achieved an impressive 30 miles per gallon. It was presented as the spiritual successor to the Volkswagen Beetle, and perhaps it was.
Who killed them all?
With the revolutions of 1989 and the subsequent Yugoslavian wars, trade sanctions against the warring factions meant that Zastava could no longer export its Yugos, and the Yugo brand ended as quickly as it had begun. It’s a shame in a way that it was not allowed to continue, as Zastava had implemented thousands of quality control measures by 1990, which meant that the GV was a much better built car than before, although this is close to damaging it with little praise.
Americans aren’t exactly kind to their cars, and the Yugo GV needed kindness to function properly. Because its small engine used an interference-style cylinder head design and a rubber timing belt, it would self-destruct if the owner missed (or skipped) the timing belt replacement interval. Time and the elements were even harder on these smaller machines, as the poor quality of their materials, including thin sheet steel, made them susceptible to rusting. When the ban was lifted in 1995, Zastava began exporting its cars around the world, but in the US the name became synonymous with lemon status, shorthand for scrap. Nevertheless, approximately 800,000 of these cars were built until production ceased in 2008.
While driving a Yugo in 2026 is basically a joke, it was a car that met the market where it belonged and succeeded in doing so. Although it was kind of rubbish, the company improved its quality dramatically as a result of the demands of American car buyers. But it was too little and too late. Some are still running in the hands of dedicated enthusiasts and Yugo cult acolytes, but you won’t see them anymore.
