Zastava builds the final Yugo

Filed under: Time Warp, Economy, Euro, Plants/Manufacturing, Hatchbacks

"Cao, nema više" reads the piece paper affixed to the tailgate of the red Serbian hatchback, as a small throng of proud workers gathered around the car to bid it "Goodbye, no more" this week. After a 20-year run, the last Zastava Koral, #794,428, quietly made its way to the Zastava museum and the scrappy Eastern European automaker has wound down production on all but one of its models. The very last Zastava, a Skala 55, will be the last of its kind when it makes its way down the production line on November 20th. After that, the proud, tenacious people who have been working at the Kragujevac factory aren't sure of what the future holds. Zastava has long been linked to Fiat, and when the lines restart, the Zastava 10 will be badged as a Fiat Punto, which it is.

Make as many Yugo jokes as you'd like, but Zastava has a long and fascinating history, and the company has managed to produce automobiles through several periods of war, even after the factory sustained bombings. The now classic Zastavas will live on; the company is working on setting up Skala 55, Koral In, and Florida In production lines in Africa and the Zastava 128 is still being produced in Egypt. In those climates, we figure they won't need to come with defroster grids to keep your hands warm when pushing.

[Source: Zastava]

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Zastava builds the final Yugo originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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