The Yugo: The Worst Car in American History

When thinking of automotive ‘flops’, the first things that come to mind are the Edsel, DeLorean, and of course that classic American fireball, the Pinto. However, when considering a definition for ‘flop’, most people would agree on a few key points. First, a lot of money would have to be put into the automobile. Second, it would have to be highly hyped. Third, it would have to fail spectacularly. There is one automobile that is, by this definition, the epitome of automotive flops. That vehicle is…the Yugo GV.

The Yugo GV, as it was designated in the United States, was manufactured by Zastava in Kragujevac, Serbia in varying forms from November 28, 1980 to November 11, 2008. It’s run in the United States was much shorter. Based on the Fiat 127, a reliable and fun hatchback, the simplistic little 903cc GV sold fairly well shortly following its arrival in the United States, thanks to entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin. The story of the Yugo’s rise and fall in the States is a very predictable one. A brief look at Malcolm Bricklin’s track record reveals his business pattern, and the fate of the Yugo. He was personally responsible for bankrupting at least three previous auto importing businesses, one of which was bought out and later became the main importer of Subarus into the US. He signed and very promptly lost contracts with Subaru and Fiat. These auto manufacturers produced far more reliable vehicles than Zastava, a former arms manufacturer.

Bricklin raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors and car dealerships, which he would then spend on office buildings, rare wood desks, fur coats, and whatever he had leftover went to importing cars. After the first shipment of cars arrived, he would realize that he had greatly over-promised to his investors. He would promise promotional materials for dealers, exclusive rights to distribution, and shipments of cars for ridiculously low prices. When he realized he didn’t have promotional materials or enough cars, he raised more money from more investors, promising them more things he still couldn’t deliver. It was a vicious cycle that fulfilled requirement number one for a flop. A lot of money would have to be put into the automobile.

Bricklin wound up overseeing production of the promotional materials for the Yugo. He had hired Bertone and Pininfarina to go to Kragujevac to oversee production of the vehicles and increase quality standards. In spite of the reports they gave him, Bricklin grossly overestimated the specs and capabilities of the vehicles he would be importing. He, again over promised in the promotional materials, and made a grand show of revealing the Yugo GV at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show in May of 1984. It is important to note that at this time, Bricklin had not yet received distribution rights, or the rights to importing vehicles from Zastava. He only obtained those rights after revealing the vehicles to the American public. Bricklin had single-handedly fulfilled the second requirement for a flop. The Yugo GV was now the most hyped car in America.

The Yugo was one step away from becoming the greatest automotive flop in American history. Actually, it had already begun that step. Bricklin showed three Yugos in Los Angeles, one of which had been driven there by the man who used to own exclusive distribution rights for the vehicles. It reportedly broke down five times on a drive that should have taken only a couple of hours. At about that same time, Bricklin’s team in Kragujevac sent a fax to the factory workers who would be producing the cars that had a list of all the issues that would need to be corrected before any vehicles could be exported to the States. It is jokingly referred to by the men who wrote it as the Four Foot Fax. Shortly after the first Yugos arrived and were sold, they began experiencing catastrophic failures. They broke down constantly, often wouldn’t start, and dreadfully unsafe. Consumer Reports called it, “Unacceptable.” Sales were extremely limited after the first shipment to arrive in the States disappeared into driveways around the nation. Bricklin’s company went bankrupt (surprise, surprise), and took a fairly permanent break from the automotive industry.

Today, a Google search for Yugo jokes yields over half a million results. How could a car be so tremendously awful? Simple. Spend a lot of money on it, over hype it, and watch it bomb fantastically. For meeting all three of these requirements, and in fact exceeding them, the Yugo GV is, undeniably, the most fantastic automotive flop in the history of America.