Latest news with #ZastavaAutomobiles
Forbes
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Serbia's Yugo Cult Car Could Be Back On The Road By 2027
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.
Auto Express
07-05-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Express
Yugo is back! And it's bringing the style of the 80s with it
Despite production of the Ford Fiesta and Mazda 2 recently being axed, small cheap cars have been given a lifeline with retro-inspired electric cars like the Renault 5 and Fiat 500e – and looking to join in on this resurgence is a new car from Yugo. Yes, that's Yugo – the brand named after its home nation of Yugoslavia (now Serbia) and built by the now-defunct Zastava Automobiles company. Opening the door for the new model is Dr Alekasandar Bjelić, a university professor who has secured the naming rights to the brand with a new firm, Yugo Automobile. He has also already recruited Serbian designer Darko Marčeta, who has penned what the future Yugo will look like. Advertisement - Article continues below Shown as a 1:5 scale model at Car Design Event in Munich, the new Yugo is clearly inspired by the boxy proportions of the original, which itself was based on the Fiat 127 and 128. But Marčeta's design brings the Yugo into the 21st century with slim LED lights front and rear, big alloy wheels and flush-fitting door handles. Retro touches come in the form of a blocky front grille and an angular rear hatch not dissimilar to that of the Hyundai Ioniq 5; the classic 'Y' badge features as well. Unlike the Renault Clio, Toyota Yaris, Renault 5 and Honda Jazz, all of which are five-door-only models, the Yugo will 'initially only be available as a two-door model' with 'different body versions' possible. Positioned as a B-segment, 'affordable small car' (a supermini, in other words), the Yugo will come with an internal-combustion engine with a choice of automatic and manual transmissions. This should help keep costs down in the same way as the original, which was one of the cheapest cars on sale in the UK in the eighties. Yugo Automobile also says 'electrified versions are possible', although no technical details have been revealed about an EV variant. While the original Yugo was a rather dull, rust-prone creation that made it to the Auto Express list of 'worst communist cars', the new model will 'meet all relevant safety standards, and it will be a fun-to-drive car', according to Yugo Automobile. There is no information just yet on what architecture will underpin the new car, but the firm behind the project says it will sit on 'an established platform from a cooperation partner'. Our first official look at the production-ready Yugo will take place on 15 September this year, with a finished prototype to be shown at the Belgrade Expo in 2027. Are you excited to see Yugo return? Let us know in the comments below...
