No one does nostalgia like automotive lovers. Witness: the Ford Bronco, the return of Scout, the Volkswagen ID. Buzz (winner of the 2025 World Automotive Design of the Yr Award), and the automotive of your goals, which may properly be older than you.
The automobiles we love aren’t even essentially nice automobiles. Typically, a automotive turns into a traditional as a result of it’s quirky, not as a result of it’s good.
We all know that. However even we didn’t see this coming.
A traditional of the Nineteen Eighties, recognized principally for its unforgiving awfulness, might return to the street quickly. The Yugo is trying a comeback.
A caveat: We might not see this within the U.S. We’re reporting on it anyway as a result of it’s the comeback of the Yugo. You’d need to find out about one other Milli Vanilli album, too.
Fanatic website The Autopian had the story first, publishing sketches of a proposed New Yugo earlier this 12 months. Now, the group behind the rebirth try has appeared in public with a automotive to indicate off for the primary time…type of.
The U.Okay.’s Automotive Journal explains, “The naming rights to Yugo have been secured by Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Bjelić – a college professor that has hyperlinks” to the automotive trade in Germany. Bjelić secured the companies of Serbian designer Darko Marčeta, and the pair appeared at a automotive design discussion board in Germany this week with a scale mannequin.
A Beloved Nineteen Eighties Flop
In case you’re younger sufficient to be spared the reminiscence, we’ll give a short historical past.
From 1980 to 2008, a Yugoslav (later Serbian) firm known as Zastava produced a small, boxy hatchback recognized within the West because the Yugo. It bought properly in its house market, the place it served as discount transportation. So, within the Nineteen Eighties, unorthodox American businessman Malcolm Bricklin tried bringing it to the U.S.
It wasn’t a lark. Bricklin had already succeeded as soon as with an analogous plan – he’s the one who launched Subaru to the American market.
From 1985 to 1992, Bricklin imported Yugos to the American market. The tiny hatchback was the most affordable automotive on the market within the U.S. for many of its run. Yugos have been well-known for construct high quality issues and wheezy engines, however the firm bought greater than 140,000 throughout its run.
The autumn of Communism, the breakup of the previous Yugoslavia, and an emissions scandal mixed to cease the import of Yugo automobiles within the early Nineteen Nineties.
The automotive, nevertheless, has a cult following to this present day. Nonetheless-running Yugos are dependable hits at automobiles and low occasions nationwide. A number of Fb teams unite house owners and have a good time the historical past of the odd little autos.
A Comeback within the Quirky Spirit of the Unique
To be clear, this undertaking might not get far. Automotive Journal studies, “Yugo has confirmed that the brand new supermini will launch as a combustion engine automotive, engaged on each naturally-aspirated and turbocharged variations, in addition to handbook and automated variations.”
However all of the nascent firm has displayed to date is a scale mannequin possible shorter than your knees. “The massive reveal,” Carscoops says, “isn’t anticipated till 2027. Yugo has made it clear that we gained’t see a full-scale drivable prototype till Could 15 of that 12 months, throughout the Belgrade Expo.”
And the size mannequin doesn’t precisely look completed. Motor Development feedback, “It’s type of a multitude,” with “what we will solely describe as feigned panel misalignment.”
Even The Autopian, praising the design, says, “The underside line on the doorways sits decrease than these of the fenders, and the oblong entrance grille is a little bit ungainly.”
Nonetheless, a couple of awkward traces stands out as the excellent option to carry again the Yugo. Would anybody love a reborn mannequin that regarded excellent?
People might should…admire?…the brand new Yugo from afar. Automotive and Driver calls a return to the U.S. “unlikely,” including, “The Yugo’s repute was badly broken by high quality points when it was new, and whereas there’s definitely a cult following for them, there’s most likely not a enterprise case to promote them to most people.”
