YUGO is coming back!

[Kruse]

I was living in Dallas during the late '80s and I remember the Yugo $3990 car commercials were really hitting the TV advertising hard. While I had no desire to buy one, my girlfriend's dad was a big-wig for JC Penney and he had one that he drove to work every day. His Yugo had about 100K miles on it and when asked about the reliability of it, mentioned the only issue he had was some brake light wiring that needed to be fixed. Other than that, it was a good economy car.
One thing that I do remember was that the early Yugos sold in America did not have air conditioning. So for the record, HIS Yugo did not have air conditioning. Do you know how hot it gets in Dallas during the summer? I remember seeing him get out of his car in the afternoon and he was soaked with sweat.

 

[CKN]

Why would they use the same name associated with basically junk/garbage?
I mean...what brand equity is there?

 

[FowVay]

Maybe they're going to rename Serbia back to Yugoslavia again. With the way this crazy world has been going you just can't rule anything out.

 

[gfh77665]

I saw one last week, and I could hardly believe it. I asked my wife if she remembered the "Yugo" name, she said not really. Most were gone by the early 90's.

Good for them!

 

[BornSlippy]

Odlično!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[billt460]

I did not own a YUGO here in the US. I owned a Zastava 101, YUGO's predecessor (a much better vehicle) and shortly YUGO........

Yugo Zastava makes, (made), good AK-47 under folders. Good, solid receivers.

 

[Torrid]

Why would they use the same name associated with basically junk/garbage?
I mean...what brand equity is there?

That was my point. It doesn't make sense. I get that it's hard to start a new brand, but I can't think of too many brands that have a more negative connotation in the US market. The thing is it doesn't look bad and if the range isn't bad then it should sell, but that's a weird thing to saddle the car with.

 

[edyvw]

Yugo Zastava makes, (made), good AK-47 under folders. Good, solid receivers.

M70. I worked on destroying them. Only M70 and Czech versions of AK47 could shoot after you go over them with M1 Abrams.
Not sure about quality now.

 

[dnewton3]

MOD NOTE ... similar threads with same topic merged

 

[JimPghPA]

I rember a local Oldsmobile dealer was stuck with some new Yugo's after word got out about how bad they were, and actually put a sign out that read " Buy an Oldsmobile and get a free Yugo".

Hay, if the Ru vs Ukraine war ends, Ru will be so desperate for cheap motorized vehicles that anything that moves will sell if any company wants to throw the dice of having vehicle dealers in whatever Ru becomes next.

Also, now days in America, gen Z have a heck of a lot of people who are both too young to rember the original Yugo, and don't have a clue what's under the hood of whatever they drive. When I ask any of them what's under the hood the standard answers are I don't know, or I'm not a mechanic. And I'm talking about guys driving trucks that also dont have a clue. So, even if mechanically it's total garbage, anything that looks nice and has decent cell phone connections and cost less will sell plenty well enough to stay in business.

 

[edyvw]

I rember a local Oldsmobile dealer was stuck with some new Yugo's after word got out about how bad they were, and actually put a sign out that read " Buy an Oldsmobile and get a free Yugo".

Hay, if the Ru vs Ukraine war ends, Ru will be so desperate for cheap motorized vehicles that anything that moves will sell if any company wants to throw the dice of having vehicle dealers in whatever Ru becomes next.

Also, now days in America, gen Z have a heck of a lot of people who are both too young to rember the original Yugo, and don't have a clue what's under the hood of whatever they drive. When I ask any of them what's under the hood the standard answers are I don't know, or I'm not a mechanic. And I'm talking about guys driving trucks that also dont have a clue. So, even if mechanically it's total garbage, anything that looks nice and has decent cell phone connections and cost less will sell plenty well enough to stay in business.

You clearly never had a “privilege “ of seeing or being driven in Moskvich. Yugo was astonishing upgrade. So, not sure about Russians here. They might revert back to Moskvich or Lada with aluminum brakes.

 

[y_p_w]

I'm not sure how bad it could really be. My experience in my youth with goods from the former Yugoslavia was some chairs my parents bought at a flea market. Might have been late 70s/early 80s and they still have them. They were self-assembled, but the parts fit and they've actually managed to last over 40 years. I did find it interesting that they were stamped "MADE IN JUGOSLAVIA".

 

[edyvw]

I'm not sure how bad it could really be. My experience in my youth with goods from the former Yugoslavia was some chairs my parents bought at a flea market. Might have been late 70s/early 80s and they still have them. They were self-assembled, but the parts fit and they've actually managed to last over 40 years. I did find it interesting that they were stamped "MADE IN JUGOSLAVIA".

The furniture industry in YU was always extremely strong. Today key market for furniture industry from former YU republics is still Western Europe. They compete with all major brands or make stuff for them. SIPAD, who was major name from Bosnia had factories in both Mexico and US, before that was trendy.
Another very strong industry that had huge presence in the US was power line assembly and production. Major projects were in Southwest US, and especially TX.
YUGO wasn’t even that popular in Yugoslavia. In Slovenia you had Renault factory, therefore Renault ruled market. In Bosnia was VW factory. Serbia had Opel factory, in Macedonia JEEP’s were assembled. Yugo was more Serbian thing. Croatia had love affair with Italian cars in Dalmatia and German cars in continental Croatia.
Yugo was state project. Yugoslavia was mixed economy. It was open country (not behind iron curtain as many assume) so you had all western stuff and private ownership was normal as well as small businesses. But then you also had state companies. Some very successful like SIPAD, ELAN (who skis knows this brand for sure) Energoinvest (power lines), KONCAR (turbines for hydro dams etc.) and Zastava in military industry was very popular. But Zastava car brand was always some kind of pet project of communist party and for the most part was abomination.
The system was called: Coca Cola socialism. I give lectures regularly at air force academy about it. Cadets get shocked when I show them parade in which Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Micheal Collins participated bcs. assumptions.

And Jugoslavia is how you spell it in languages there. Same like you have on some products Made in Deutschland.

 

[billt460]

M70. I worked on destroying them. Only M70 and Czech versions of AK47 could shoot after you go over them with M1 Abrams.
Not sure about quality now.

These are my 2 M70's. The stamped receivers are heavier than any of my milled receiver models.

 

[SC Maintenance]

The reputation might have been less bad design and more bad parts. Friend of mine grew up in Poland behind the iron curtain. Tells me you were lucky to get 100 miles out of wheel bearings due to lousy bearings and / bad roads. He says they weren't hard to swap and people would do so on the side of the road if needed. I assume they were all the old spindle / inner/outer style?

 

[edyvw]

These are my 2 M70's. The stamped receivers are heavier than any of my milled receiver models.


View attachment 282911

The only problem M70 had is if you had to shoot anti-tank mine. It had barrel extension that was very sensitive on quality of mines. After collapse of USSR during balkan wars we saw all kind of junk being smuggled out of former Soviet Union. The Yugoslav stuff was good, but junk from USSR was really bad. We had to import that bcs. Serbia pretty much kept all former Yugoslav military weapons. People at one point just refused to use USSR mines on M70.
The military industry there is still very strong, especially in Bosnia and Serbia. I think last year Bosnia exported more than $450 million of weapons to the US, mostly howitzers and mortars. US and Czech are stop gap on the way to UKR. But I think big chunk of that is just small ammo for the US market. I think some US company just bought majority stake in one of the Bosnian ammo manufacturers.

 

[Imp4]

This happened years and years ago, a Yugo was traveling across the Mackinac bridge , that bridge separates the upper and lower peninsula of Michigan . Tip to tail the bridge is 5 miles long, and it is high in order for freighters to get under it . Four lanes wide, two center lanes are an iron grid . A gust of wind came and picked the Yugo up and fell 200 ft to the water .

For clarity, Leslie Pluhar was not blown off the bridge in her Yugo. It is believed she over corrected after experiencing a wind gust. She hit the center median and then veered to the right, hit a curb and then jumped the guardrail and plunged to her death.

Was wind a factor, almost absolutely. Did the wind actually blow the car off the bridge? Likely not, but it was a horrible tragedy.

 

[edyvw]

For clarity, Leslie Pluhar was not blown off the bridge in her Yugo. It is believed she over corrected after experiencing a wind gust. She hit the center median and then veered to the right, hit a curb and then jumped the guardrail and plunged to her death.

Was wind a factor, almost absolutely. Did the wind actually blow the car off the bridge? Likely not, but it was a horrible tragedy.

True, that was BS story. But it did understeer galore. It was not good handling car by any means. However, when you upgrade it for hill climb races, it turns like crazy.

 

[y_p_w]

The only problem M70 had is if you had to shoot anti-tank mine. It had barrel extension that was very sensitive on quality of mines. After collapse of USSR during balkan wars we saw all kind of junk being smuggled out of former Soviet Union. The Yugoslav stuff was good, but junk from USSR was really bad. We had to import that bcs. Serbia pretty much kept all former Yugoslav military weapons. People at one point just refused to use USSR mines on M70.
The military industry there is still very strong, especially in Bosnia and Serbia. I think last year Bosnia exported more than $450 million of weapons to the US, mostly howitzers and mortars. US and Czech are stop gap on the way to UKR. But I think big chunk of that is just small ammo for the US market. I think some US company just bought majority stake in one of the Bosnian ammo manufacturers.

I don't know that much about weapons, but I think that was a joke in the 90s on the show Stargate SG-1. Something about a Russian military officer discussing weapons when the SG-1 team's primary weapon was the (Belgian) FN P90. The Russian is talking about his preferred weapon, where Col. O'Neill jabs him when he claims it's Russian. OK - found a transcript, but not the video.

ZUKHOV: Is that a P90, Colonel?

O'NEILL: 50-round horizontal clip, 900 armor-piercing rounds per minute. Feel the weight of that sucker.

ZUKHOV: Impressive. Though I prefer the Russian Zastava M85.

O'NEILL: Those are made in Yugoslavia, aren't they?

 

[edyvw]

I don't know that much about weapons, but I think that was a joke in the 90s on the show Stargate SG-1. Something about a Russian military officer discussing weapons when the SG-1 team's primary weapon was the (Belgian) FN P90. The Russian is talking about his preferred weapon, where Col. O'Neill jabs him when he claims it's Russian. OK - found a transcript, but not the video.

ZUKHOV: Is that a P90, Colonel?

O'NEILL: 50-round horizontal clip, 900 armor-piercing rounds per minute. Feel the weight of that sucker.

ZUKHOV: Impressive. Though I prefer the Russian Zastava M85.

O'NEILL: Those are made in Yugoslavia, aren't they?

There is M85, and it is 5.56mm NATO standard.