Yugo

The Yugo is the common English marketing term used for the Zastava Koral (Застава Корал), a subcompact car built under license from Fiat in Kragujevac, Serbia, Yugoslavia.

Infamy in the United States
The Yugo has the distinction of being one of the few Eastern Bloc vehicles (along with Ural and Dnepr) ever imported to the US in large quantities. In 1985, Malcom Bricklin, a Canadian businessman, wanted to introduce a simple, low cost car to the US market. From 1985 to 1991, 141,511 Yugos were sold in the US, with yearly sales peaking at 48,500 in 1987. By 1991, sales were only 3,981 cars.

The Yugo was subjected to miserable (and undeserved) derision at the hands of American critics, including Car Talk, who voted the Yugo their worst car of the millenium. They pointed to its use of old-generation Fiat technology and to alleged issues with build quality and reliability. However, the Yugo's reputation also suffered because too many owners considered them "disposable," and thus failed to perform basic maintenance such as oil changes. The Yugo's low-compression engine also requires 89-octane fuel, which most owners did not use.

The Yugo, while not a luxurious car by any means, is nonetheless a respectable economy car. While the technology it uses is outdated, the many Yugos that survive to this day are a testament to its reliability. They are peppy and well-tempered with regular maintenance.

Owners of the Yugo and related models in the former Yugoslavia benefit from a ready supply of inexpensive spare parts due to general continuity in the car's design; local mechanics' ready familiarity with the Yugo also lowers the cost of ownership.