Yogo Owners Group

The Zastava Koral (known simply as the Yugo) is a subcompact vehicle built by Zastava corporation. The first Yugo 45 was handmade on 2 October, 1978.

The car design is based on the mechanics of the Fiat 128, under license from Fiat, with a modified body style. The Yugo entered the United States by means of Malcolm Bricklin, who wanted to introduce a simple, low cost car to that market. In total 141,511 cars were sold in the US from 1985 to 1991, with the most American units sold in a year peaking at 48,500 in 1987. 1991 sales were only 3,981 cars.[1] The Zastava Koral was sold with an updated design, priced at about 350,000 dinar (3,500 euro, 4,300 USD), until 11 November 2008, when production stopped with a final number of 794,428 cars.
Zastava was founded as an arms manufacturer in 1853. By the late 1930s the company had expanded into automobile production supplying Ford designed trucks to the Yugoslav Army. Vehicle production continued until 1941 when World War II reached Yugoslavia. Following the war Zastava was permitted to produce Jeeps under license from Willys-Overland until production was halted in the early 1950s.

The first passenger models were produced on August 26, 1953 using designs licensed by Fiat of Turin. The first model designed by Zastava was a sedan called the Milletrecento ("one thousand three hundred") powered by a 1300 cc engine. Some of the most successful models were those based on the Fiat 128 model, marketed under different names: Zastava 128, Zastava 311, Zastava Skala, etc.


1992 Yugo Cabrio 1.3 EFI with automatic electro-hydraulic folding/raising roof mechanismZastava continued to produce vehicles for the Yugoslav and European markets until exports were limited by sanctions imposed by the United Nations in the 1990s. In 1984, automobile entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin tested the U.S. market for Zastava vehicles, now branded as Yugo. As a result, in the summer of 1986, Yugo America began selling cars at a starting price of $3,990 for the entry-level GV ("Great Value") hatchback equipped with the 1100 cubic centimeter overhead-cam five-main-bearing engine and four-speed manual transmission. The similar GVL offered a plusher interior, but the sporty top-line GVX was powered by the beefier 1300 cc engine mated to a five-speed manual transmission, and included as standard equipment a number of deluxe features such as a ground-effects package, alloy wheels and rally lights.

By the late 1980s, US distributor Yugo America was in financial trouble, and American distribution was taken over by Zastava itself. The Yugo Cabrio convertible was introduced with many GVX features as standard equipment.

In the early 1990s the 1100cc engine was dropped as the 1300cc engine became the standard, and an automatic transmission was offered.

However, when the political instability in Yugoslavia intensified in early 1992, Zastava was forced to stop exports to the United States.