Farewell, Yugo. We’d miss you if we hadn’t thought you’d already gone

NEWS FROM ALL OVER

FAREWELL, YUGO
Production of iconic automobile terminated

Although it hasn’t yet been big news in the American media, the BBC and other sources are rightfully noting the passing of that strangely iconic automobile, the workaday Yugo. It was recently announced that the car will no longer be manufactured. This may come as news  to American car buyers, who can be forgiven for mistakenly thinking that this had happened a long time ago.

The Yugo mostly disappeared from the American automotive landscape in the early 1990s, only a few years after it was initially imported. During the few years it was sold in the U.S., however, it was very well known. It was certainly one of the least expensive cars on the market. That provided some appeal to American consumers in the mid-1980s when it first showed up in showrooms in the United States.

But shortly after its introduction, stories began to mount suggesting that the Yugo was a “cheap” car in more ways than one. It quickly gained an ignoble reputation. Indeed, it is hard to think of another automobile that has been the object of so many derisive jokes.  (Example heard on the BBC World Service — Question: “What do you call a Yugo on the top of a hill?” Answer: “A miracle.” And that is one of the kinder ones.)

Yet, despite its decidedly meager reputation in terms of quality, the Yugo persisted in the international marketplace for a very long time. Admittedly, American car buyers lost interest some time ago, but it continued to be sold elsewhere.

The Yugo began production during the Yugoslavia years, and it was one of that country’s best known exports. Later, after the that country broke apart with the fall of communism, it continued to be manufactured in Serbia. But that location proved problematic due to the troubled state of relations between Serbia and other nations — especially with NATO nations, with which Serbia engaged in major conflict. When that international situation cooled, it seems to have been too late for the Yugo. The company never seemed to regain whatever momentum it had achieved in prior years.

American automobile producers may have become accustomed to laughing at the Yugo during its heyday.  Yet, it’s ironic that the Yugo’s demise is coming at the same time that the so-called “Big 3″ American car makers — General Motors, Ford, and Chysler — are literally begging for $25 billion from Congress in order to stay afloat. The Big 3 may have manufactured superior products, but it turns out that they have not had much more business sense than the often ridiculed manufacturer of the lowly Yugo. For now, however, the American car industry has outlasted its tiny former rival.

But who knows. The Yugo may soon have plenty of unexpected company in the automotive hereafter.

–G.A.