Serbia's Yugo Cult Car Could Be Back On The Road By 2027

Forbes

12-05-2025

Budget cult brand Yugo has been reborn, and promises a running prototype of its eponymous comeback ... More car by 2027. Photo: Yugo.
Serbian budget car brand Yugo is back. Almost.
Just three months after the announcement of the brand's rebirth, it showed a 1:5 scale model of its promised new Yugo at the Car Design Event in Munich, Germany, last week.
Yugo promised the hatchback will be true to the brand's traditional budget ethos, with only two doors in the B-segment (or subcompact) market.
Boasting a clean design that could have come from any number of European hatch specialists, the Yugo is yet to be given a specific model name, despite there being plans for three different models.
A sporty derivative of the Yugo will be announced at the Car Design Event Classic in September, while fans of the cult brand will have to wait until the 2027 Belgrade Expo to see a fully functioning prototype.
Only a scale model so far, but Yugo promises to return with a fun, affordable two-door hatch. Photo: ... More Yugo.
Yugo, lead by Professor Doctor Aleksandar Bjelić, promises to deliver a fun, affordable car that will meet global safety standards and launch with both manual and automatic transmissions attached to combustion engines. Electric versions are 'possible' (not probable) and there will be different body styles, too.
The new model reveal comes 17 years after production of the Zastava Automobiles Yugo GV (as it was called in the U.S.) ended, having spent 28 years developing a cult following despite a reputation for poor build quality and reliability.
Malcolm Bricklin introduced Yugo to the United States in 1985, achieving surprising success, with 48,812 sales in 1987 alone, despite it being the slowest car sold in the country.
By 1992, that figure had fallen to just 1412, and Yugo departed U.S. showrooms having pushed 141,651 cars through to the streets.
The original Yugos were very Yugoslavian cars, with parts made in Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia Herzegovina, as well as Serbia.
But Yugo's demise saw the ascent of Dacia, in neighboring Romania, and the Renault Group's budget brand is one of the rising sales stars of the European car market.