The Yugo : The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History

From The Publisher: Six Months After Its American Introduction In 1985, The Yugo Was A Punch Line; Within A Year, It Was A Staple Of Late-night Comedy. By 2000, Npr's Car Talk Declared It The Worst Car Of The Millennium. And For Most Americans That's Where The Story Begins And Ends. Hardly. The Short, Unhappy Life Of The Car, The Men Who Built It, The Men Who Imported It, And The Decade That Embraced And Discarded It Is Rollicking And Astounding, And One Of The Greatest Untold Business-cum-morality Tales Of The 1980s. Mix One Rabid Entrepreneur, Several Thousand Good Communists, A Willing U.s. State Department, The Shortsighted Detroit Auto Industry, And Improvident Bankers, Shake Vigorously, And You've Got The Yugo: The Rise And Fall Of The Worst Car In History. Brilliantly Re-creating The Amazing Confluence Of Events That Produced The Yugo, Yugoslav Expert Jason Vuic Uproariously Tells The Story Of The Car That Became An International Joke: The American Ceo Who Happens Upon A Yugo Right When His Company Needs To Find A New Import Or Go Under. A State Department Eager To Aid Yugoslavia's Nonaligned Communist Government. Zastava Automobiles, Which Overhauls Its Factory To Produce An American-ready Yugo In Six Months. And A Hole Left By Detroit In The Cheap Subcompact Market That Creates A Race To The Bottom That Leaves The Yugo-at The Bottom. Introduction -- 1: Yugo Girls! -- 2: Habitual Entrepreneur -- 3: Canadian Sports Car? -- 4: Walkin' Down A London Street -- 5: Serbian Detroit -- 6: Bricklin's Next Big Thing -- 7: Four-meter Fax -- 8: Destination America -- 9: Yugo-mania -- 10: It's Going To Be A Bloodbath -- 11: Ambassador Drives A Yugo -- 12: Car-buying Bible -- 13: Proton Saga Saga -- 14: Thirty-five Hundredths Of A Percent -- 15: Mabon In, Brickling Out -- 16: Yugo Is A No-go -- 17: Zmw, Get It? -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index. Jason Vuic. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "Six months after its American introduction in 1985, the Yugo had become a punch line; within a year, it was a staple of late-night comedy. In 2000, NPR's Car Talk declared it "the worst car of the millennium." And for most Americans, that's where the story begins and ends." "Hardly: the saga of the short, unhappy life of the car, the men who built it, the men who imported it, and the decade that embraced and discarded it is rollicking, astounding, and one of the greatest untold business-cum-morality tales of the 1980s. Mix one rabid entrepreneur, several thousand "good" communists, a willing U.S. State Department, the shortsighted Detroit auto industry, and improvident bankers, shake vigorously, and you've got The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History." "Re-creating the amazing confluence of events that produced the Yugo, the Yugoslav expert Jason Vuic tells the uproarious story of the car that became an international joke."--Jacket

Six months after its American introduction in 1985, the Yugo was a punch line; within a year, it was a staple of late-night comedy. By 2000, NPR's Car Talk declared it "the worst car of the millennium." And for most Americans that's where the story begins and ends. Hardly. The short, unhappy life of the car, the men who built it, the men who imported it, and the decade that embraced and discarded it is rollicking and astounding, and one of the greatest untold business-cum-morality tales of the 1980s. Mix one rabid entrepreneur, several thousand "good" communists, a willing U.S. State Department, the shortsighted Detroit auto industry, and improvident bankers, shake vigorously, and you've got The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History.

Brilliantly re-creating the amazing confluence of events that produced the Yugo, Yugoslav expert Jason Vuic uproariously tells the story of the... Six months after its American introduction in 1985, the Yugo had become a punch line; within a year, it was a staple of late-night comedy. For most Americans, that's where the story begins and ends. Hardly: the saga of the short, unhappy life of the Yugo, the men who built it, the men who imported it, and the decade that embraced and discarded it is outrageous, astounding, and one of the greatest untold business-cum-morality tales of the 1980s. Mix one rabid entrepreneur, several thousand "good" communists, a willing U.S. State Department, the shortsighted Detroit auto industry, and improvident bankers, shake vigorously, and you've got The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History. - Back cover.