Worst Car in History, the Yugo, Is Making a Major Comeback

According to Autopian, the car, called the Zastava Yugo, is an “Eastern European bargain-basement car that has advanced to cult
Who made the Yugo?

The Yugo was a product of the Yugoslavian automaker Crvena Zastava, which began producing automobiles in 1954 by building variants of the existing Fiat 1400 and Fiat 1900. By 1981, the firm was producing its new Yugo 45 based on the discontinued Fiat 127, though with more modern styling. That car became the Yugo that was brought to our shores.

Is the Yugo the worst car ever?

Most Americans who are Gen-X and older believe that the Yugo is the worst car in history. It’s on * Car Talk*, it’s on NPR, it’s on the cover of a book called Crap Cars, it’s in jokes. The Yugo wasn’t a very good car and it was a sales catastrophe. So (company executives) wanted to go out of their way to tell me that it wasn’t the worst car ever.

Was the Yugo a good first-year car?

(Leno: “Yugo has come out with a very clever anti-theft device: They made their name bigger.”) But it sold. As Vuic writes, the Yugo was the “fastest-selling first-year European import in history.” For some, it was a perfect third car; for others, it was a rare chance to own a new car.