The Yugo, one of the worst cars ever, is attempting a comeback

USA Today

2 days ago

The Yugo, one of the worst cars ever, is attempting a comeback
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Electric cars have come a long way, but they're still fundamentally more expensive than equivalent gas-fed vehicles, which themselves have gotten pretty pricey lately. The answer is, of course, more affordable gas models and EVs — and some are finally here or on their way, including the 300-mile-plus, $35,000-ish Chevrolet Equinox EV, even cheaper and still great gas Chevy Trax, Ford's Maverick, and the forthcoming new-generation Nissan Leaf. Even Tesla's promising something cheaper, sometime.
But what if someone were to go, like, really, really cheap?
We're talking cheap to buy and cheap as a sort of lifestyle, a low-buck aura that cuts through modern cars' and EVs' expensive stigmas — we're talking, of course, about a potential small hatchback inspired by one of the worst cheap cars ever made: a new Yugo. Only this time, it won't be produced by an Eastern European former arms manufacturer or (so far) based in any way on an existing Fiat design.
Word began spreading earlier this year that a professor, Dr. Aleksandar Bjelic, had taken over the Yugo name — and was working on resurrecting the infamous hatchback for modern times.
The first concept has now debuted at the 2025 Car Design Event in Europe, and we're getting our first peek at Serbian designer Darko Marčeta's work.
Color us surprised that the new Yugo, as it's being referred to, hews closely to the original's severely boxy, traditional hatchback shape. It goes beyond even today's boxiest vehicle on sale, Hyundai's Ioniq 5, itself inspired by (better) 1980s hatchbacks, even adopting a forward cant to its nose like that of the 1981 Yugo.
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Other classic Yugo details are present, as well, from the way the hood line kicks up above the headlights before leveling out until the base of the windshield, to what we can only describe as feigned panel misalignment. Look closely at the way the door cuts into the rocker panel elements on the scale model's bodyside, or how the flat-seeming front bumper abruptly is cut along each front corner's vertical boundary — it's sort of a mess.
You see, the original Yugo was notoriously poorly built, to such a degree that matching that "charm" would take actual effort with today's manufacturing improvements. Maybe the designer intentionally set a bunch of body cut lines in conflict with one another to give a slightly schlubby appearance in line with the frumpy original. Or maybe we're getting too conspiratorial over a 1:5-scale model that isn't even a full-size concept car.
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As fans of small hatchbacks and historical oddities, we're genuinely intrigued by this new Yugo. It would compete with other mini hatches in Europe, as we suspect it's not coming here, but never say never.
A larger, apparently working prototype, is promised later this year. Yugo — the new one — is apparently seeking larger automakers to partner with, likely for sharing running gear and other components. We mentioned already that the new Yugo could be an EV, but apparently the backers are hoping to make the hatch a multi-powertrain vehicle, one offering gas engines — including maybe a turbo option — as well as an all-electric variant.
We don't want to get too nostalgic, here, but it bears noting that a certain Italian brand once associated with the original Yugo has just such a multi-powertrain, small car that it'd surely love to get more scale from: the Fiat 500e. A new-age Yugo based on the Fiat 500e, which soon is being adapted to support gas powertrains? That'd be too easy.