The Yugo, also marketed as the Zastava Koral and Yugo Koral, is a subcompact hatchback formerly manufactured by Zastava Automobiles, at the time a Yugoslav corporation.
Originally designed in Italy as a shortened variant of the Fiat 128, the first Yugo prototype was manufactured on 2 July 1977. Series production started on 28 November 1980. The Zastava Koral, a facelifted model, was marketed until 11 November 2008, after production of 794.428 cars.
The Yugo was marketed in the United States from 1985 to 1992 by Malcolm Bricklin, who asked Jerry Puchkoff to conceive of and produce what became the enormously successful market introduction and launch of the Yugo in 1985 with a total of 141.651 sold – peaking at 48.812 in 1987 and falling to 1.412 in 1992. Despite its moderate success, during its run in the United States and several other export markets it was subjected to much criticism over its design, safety, and reliability, though the car has also picked up a cult following.
By the early 1990s, the effects of the United Nations sanctions on Yugoslavia forced Zastava to withdraw the car from every export market. After embargoes stifled production, the coup de grâce was NATO's 1999 bombing of the company's automotive division, instead of Zastava's arms manufacturing division. Only in 2000 could production be restarted and not until 2003 was the Florida launched.
With the 794.428th and final car, production ended on November 11, 2008. Of that number, around 250.000 were exported to various countries.
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