I had a buddy with one of these. He painted 25 Cents on the hood with an arrow pointing at the scoop.
Posted on 11/17/2008 3:42:54 PM PST by Decombobulator
The last Yugo rolled off the assembly line at 9:00 a.m., November 11, 2008. With no more ceremony than factory worker’s hand-written paper sign reading “Cao, nema viša” (“goodbye, no more”) on the tailgate of Yugo number 794,428, production of the Yugo has ended.
Earlier this year, Fiat purchased a 70 percent controlling interest in Zastava Automobili from the Serbian government and will begin production of the Fiat Punto in the company’s plant in Kragujevac, Serbia, by the end of 2008.
Americans are familiar with the Yugo from its 1985 introduction in the United States by entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin (who earlier had brought the first Subarus to the U.S.). Selling for $3,990, the Yugo GV (great value) was significantly the cheapest new car for sale in the country. Sales were initially strong as car buyers were attracted to the low price, but the cars could charitably be described as being unsuited for American driving. More accurately, the consumers reported a lack of quality. Consumers Reports was more blunt, calling it “barely assembled bag of nuts and bolts.”
Early adopters were willing to forego quality, sales rising from an initial 400 cars per month in September 1985 to 5,000 monthly a year and a half later. On the other hand, the first cars were equipped with an 1100cc 55-horsepower engine, and with a manual transmission only, its market was limited in an America where automatic transmission sales were well over 90 percent.
Road & Track magazine tested a Yugo GV in 1986 and found that it would edge out a 1984 Chevrolet Sprint costing $1,000 more in acceleration, but the Yugo returned 30 mpg in “normal driving” while the Sprint achieved 44 mpg, no doubt in part from its five-speed versus four-speed transmission. The bigger competition, however, turned out to be the Hyundai Excel.
Although R&T found it would do “all the necessary things” in its first full test, in more extended use, owners found “Yugo” and “reliable” didn’t belong in the same sentence unless there was a “not” in there somewhere. Owners complained of engine failure, shifter and transmission problems, malfunctioning brakes and electrical system faults, in addition to interior and trim parts that frequently went AWOL or were dishonorably separated from service.
By 1988, Yugo’s 300 dealers in the U.S. had inventory clogging their lots and offering news cars that had been there for several years for half their original selling price. Yugo America went bankrupt in 1989, and no ’89 models were imported. With reorganization, the new Yugo America became a subsidiary of Zastava Automobili. But even though, quality had improved with fuel injection replacing troublesome carburetion and a 1300cc engine having been made standard equipment, the Yugo’s image had been irreparably damaged. It wasn’t helped by the EPA recalling 126,000 vehicles for failure to meet emissions requirements with its complex carburetor arrangement that by the time of the recall had been replaced by injection. Even a convertible, the GVC Cabrio, wasn’t able to revive the little car’s fortune.
But Yugo hung on in the United States until 1992 when Yugo America Inc. told dealers in a letter that the compact car had fell victim to “civil strife in its European homeland,” according to the New York Times. A dealer visiting Yugo America’s headquarters found the lights off and doors locked. The final count total for Yugos coming into the United States was 145,511. Production continued at Zastava, however. Even in 1999, six months after when “NATO used the factory for target practice,” in the words of a Zastava Automobili press release, the factory was up and producing cars again. (Zastava, it should be noted, was an arms maker long before starting car manufacture). Zastava, still government owned even after the Communist government had fallen, continued to improve its product, as a company press release notes:
“For an encore, Zastava’s engineers forged an alliance with PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, and developed Europe’s most affordable diesel car, the Florida TDC, a five-door hatchback that was praised by Britain’s AutoCar magazine (in its February 28th, 2008 issue), in the last throes of the company’s independence.”
The Yugo isn’t quite the last car from Zastava, however, though the last Scala 55 will be built on November 20. The Zastava 128 is assembled in Egypt, and Zastava is negotiating with government officials in the Congo about building the Scala 55 and Yugo Koral In in that African country.
But on November 11, 2008, it all ended for the Yugo at the Kragujevac factory. As they say in Serbia, “Cao, nema viša.”
Just as Hitler brought us the "people's car", Obama will save Amerikka with our own state-owned automobile.
Although it will make a Yugo seem like a Mercedes.
Jay Leno once joked about a Yugo being used in the first "push-by shooting."
In a Yugo
As the snow flies
At a used car lot on the edge of town
A liberal guy and a liberal gal
Buy a Yugo
And they drive with pride
Cause if there’s one thing that this world needs
It’s environmental friends who’ll take the lead
In a Yugo
They say, “people don’t you understand
Those suburbans are ruining the land”
But they’ll wish they had a full size van one day
They point fingers at you and me
They say we’re too blind to see
But do we simply use our heads
And choose another way?
As those small wheels turn
Fifty miles to the gallon
And their knees on their chest
They’re gonna save enough gas
For all of the rest
In a Yugo
Then one day on the interstate
They suddenly lose control
They swerve to miss a baby duck
They’re squashed beneath a produce truck
But they drove with pride...
And as the crowds drive past a little flat car
You know they saved a lot of gas
But they didnt get far
In a Yugo
And as they’re trapped inside
At a used car lot on the other side of town
A liberal guy and a liberal gal
Buy a Yugo....
And they drive with pride...
That song cracks me up.
My ultra-lib sis and her even moonbatty-er husband drive an itty bitty car, and I always think of them when I hear that song, OR the real Elvis song.
And I’m gonna laugh my butt off when it happens.
Do the brain-farts in Detroit really think Obama will just hand over the billions of dollars they want with no strings attached?
No. Of course not. We know that Socialism demands that the State must gain control - then ownership - of the industries.
And I’m gonna laugh my butt off as well when the idiots in the media wake up one day to see that Freedom of the Press is gone, gone gone. When they see that Obamessiah they elected turns on them and extends the Fairness Doctrine to ALL aspects of the media. Right wing AND left wing.
Can you say “Welcome back Pravda”?
I knew you could.
I had a buddy with one of these. He painted 25 Cents on the hood with an arrow pointing at the scoop.
LOL. I expect that on airling oxygen masks, next. “For more oxygen, please insert 2 quarters...”
Government owning car companies worked sooooo well for British Leyland, Fiat, etc.
Here in Panama it reminds me of the Russian car the Lada sold here more than 20 years ago.
The Panamanians with their great sense of humor renamed it “la Lata” (the tin can). They were about $3000 and maybe a little more.
A person I know purchased one. Two years later he couldn’t even re-sell it. He took it directly to the junk yard.
I see the Chinese “Chery” on the same future track.
And we were worried that they’d nationalize Healthcare? If the Republicans go along with this bailout, there will be no arguing the next industry sector takeover.
What was that punchline? “We’ve already established WHAT you are. Now we’re just dickering the PRICE.”
What will a million dollars be worth in 2058? Adjusted for inflation it could be about what the car was worth new... I'm only slightly kidding.
Nothing will be different for the MSM, they toe the line anyway. It is the alternate media of talk radio and the internet that will change.
Trust me, you will not be laughing!!
To be fair, they weren´t as bad as Yugos.
This is a "Deux Cheveaux" (pronounced "dew shiv-oh"), a car formerly made by Citroen that achieved worldwide fame for making people smirk.
Deux Cheveaux engines were only slightly more powerful than a Weed Eater, which is why this card was intended to be funny. You couldn´t climb over a speed bump in one of these without first getting out and emptying your pockets to reduce weight.
The caption says "Demenagement" (I left out the accents, since they´re a pain to type and may not reproduce correctly in all browsers). In French, this means "Moving," but to get the full flavor of the irony here I´ll quote the actual dictionary definition (from The New Cassell´s French Dictionary, if you don´t believe me):
"Demenagement, n. m.: Removal, removing one´s furniture. Demenager, to remove. Demenager a la cloche de bois, to remove surreptitiously. Il demenage, he is getting queer."
Caption: "Demenagement" (Citroen 2cv, 1961)
Hey, I drive an itty-bitty car, and I’m definately NOT a lib.
I drive a classic (1969) VW Beetle. Love it!!
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