Yugo GV History

Series production of the car known as the Zastava Koral (and later branded Yugo for export) began on November 28, 1980, at the Zastava Automobiles factory in Kragujevac, Yugoslavia. The car was conceived as an affordable, simplified replacement for the aging Fiat 750-based Zastava 750, built on Fiat 127 architecture with a front-wheel-drive layout and an overhead-cam four-cylinder engine.

American entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin negotiated an import deal and launched the car in the United States on August 24, 1985, as the Yugo GV ('Good Value'), priced at $3,990 — the lowest sticker price of any new car sold in America at the time. Initial US enthusiasm was genuine: 48,812 units were sold in 1987, the brand's peak year, and total US sales reached approximately 141,651 before the plug was pulled in 1992. Emissions regulation violations, combined with a collapse in parts supply caused by the breakup of Yugoslavia, ended the US run.

Domestically and in other export markets the car continued in production as the Zastava Koral, surviving the 1999 NATO bombing of the Kragujevac factory (which briefly halted production) and carrying on through a series of minor updates — fuel injection, a revised interior, catalytic converter — before the final Koral left the line on November 11, 2008. Total production across the full 28-year run exceeded 794,000 units.