The Yugo was manufactured by Zastava Koral and first imported to the United States in the mid eighties. Zastava Koral was not new to the manufacturing industry, as it had been producing quality armaments since 1853. The company was actually producing the car based on the mechanics of the Fiat 128. Zastava Koral had obtained a license from Fiat to build the cars with a slightly modified body style.
It was entrepreneur Miro Kefurt working in conjunction with Malcolm Bricklin that actually introduced the car to the United States market. Bricklin's plan was to bring to the United States a new car that just about anyone could afford. The base model the Yugo GV (for great value) had a base price of just under $4,000 U.S. dollars.
The American public got their first look at the Yugo at the Los Angeles Auto Expo in 1982. The coverage of the car was incredible and the public was certainly intrigued at the idea of purchasing a new car for under $4,000. While the quality of the vehicle was an initial concern, the public's fears were allayed for several reasons. Zastava Koral was not new to the industry; in fact, it had been manufacturing cars since the 1930's when the company began manufacturing Ford designed trucks to the Yugoslav Army. The company continued to manufacture military vehicles until World War 2, which saw production halt completely. At the end of the war Zastava was once again allowed to manufacture automobiles, this time they were contracted to produce Jeeps under license from Willys-Overland.
By 1953, the company had begun to produce passenger vehicles instead of military ones for use in both the Yugoslavian and European markets. In 1984, Malcolm Bricklin had the opportunity to test drive a Yugo in Europe. It was at this time that he conceived of the plan to bring the Yugo to the United States. After several market tests to see how well the Yugo would be accepted by consumers in the United States, the Yugo GV made its appearance on the American Market. The car was readily accepted as people eagerly snapped up the value priced new car.
Early on talk of shoddy workmanship began to shadow the Yugo and sales began to suffer. Defenders of the brand claimed that the Big Three American car companies were behind this as a way to eliminate competition. There is probably a fair amount of truth to the accusation although the Yugo did have its share of mechanical issues. However, the vehicle did not seem to have any more trouble than those that appeared in other inexpensive brands entering the market. The reasons for the many of its major mechanical issue may have been due in part to owners' tendency to view the car as "disposable" and many failed to perform regular maintenance on the vehicle such as oil changes and the normal service that can be expected for any car. As with all things mechanical, the Yugo required certain regular maintenance. One major problem that very few owners seemed to address or acknowledge was the need to change the timing belt at or around 40,000 miles. The engine in the Yugo was an interference engine and timing belt failure here causes a disruption in synchronization between pistons and valves, causing them to collide, which destroys the engine. Though this requirement was stressed in the owner's manual, it was a crucial step in maintenance that was many times ignored by owners.
While sales of the Yugo did continue to slide after peaking out in 1987, the largest contributors to the departure of the Yugo from the American market were the escalating political instability in Yugoslavia and the collapse of communism. As Yugoslavia began to unravel and embargoes began to take their toll on the ability to procure raw materials, it was NATO's bombing of the automotive division of Zastava instead of the arms production division that effectively ended the import of Yugos to the United States.
The Zastava Koral does still manufacture cars for some of Asia and Eastern Europe. Bricklin has shown interest in bringing the Yugo back to the United States as recently as 2006 however he has been unable to come up with the needed capital to bring the car up to the specifications required for import to the United States market.
Ronnie Tanner is a contributing writer at SW Engines. He writes about used Yugo engines, junkyards in Texas and other industry specific topics.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ronnie_W_Tanner
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