I’m the man bringing the ‘worst car in history’ back to life: The original

There are plenty of terrible cars from years gone by – too many to name, in fact. 

But few garnered a reputation quite as bad as one particularly infamous 1980s motor produced in former Yugoslavia that became Britain’s cheapest car of the decade.

While thousands were sold in the UK, it has gone down in folklore as the ‘worst car in history’. In fact, there’s a book dedicated to its flawed past.

Though not everyone agrees. Certainly not Dr Aleksandar Bjelić, the man who plans to revive the name for the 21st century.

Bjelić, a professor with a 20-years background in the automotive sector, is steering – and funding – the relaunch of the Yugo.

In an exclusive interview with This is Money, he explains what the future looks like for the reborn brand, how he intends to bring six cars to market – including a roadster and SUV – and why the original 1980s Yugo wasn’t as bad as many try to make out…

Dr Aleksandar Bjelić is the man who plans to revive the Yugo name for the 21st century. We exclusively spoke to him about his ambitions

The Yugo 45 originally entered the UK market in 1981 as a rebodied Fiat 127 with a simple box shape penned by famed styling house ItalDesign and an incredibly crude cabin short of luxuries. 

Under the bonnet was a choice of three Fiat petrol engines, all modest capacities from 903cc to 1,301cc. It even sold a ‘convertible’ variant with a power roof.

And it was seriously cheap.

By the time UK imports ceased in 1991 due to the outbreak of the Yugoslav civil war, the Eastern Bloc car was being sold new for just £2,795 – that’s the equivalent of just £8,600 in 2025 respective of inflation.

At the height of its popularity, around 3,000 Yugos were sold in the UK per year. But few survive today due to catastrophic rust.

In fact, by 2018, official registrations data suggested that the thousands once owned had plummeted to a mere 19 on the road. 

Half a decade later, UK numbers dwindled to just nine. 

And today, we have it on good authority that only two Yugo 45s have endured.

The Yugoslavian Yugo 45 debuted on the UK market in 1981 as a rebodied Fiat 127 with a simple box shape penned by famed styling house ItalDesign

The Yugo was available with a choice of three petrol options of varying capacity from 903cc to 1,301cc. It even sold as a ‘convertible’ variant (pictured) with a power roof

A total of 794,428 Yugos were produced for the global market. However, only a fraction of these were sold in Britain

The Yugo also made it across the Atlantic to the US, where 142,000 were purchased between 1985 and 1992. 

Costing just $4,000, it was instantly renowned for being poorly engineered, ugly, and rudimentary.

Long before Yugos stopped being imported into America, it had become the butt of every automotive joke, like: ‘Why do Yugo’s have a heater for the back window? To keep your hands warm when pushing it.’

Jason Vuic’s 2010 book ‘The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History’, explains: ‘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.’

The Eastern Bloc product cost as little as £2,795 by the time imports ceased in 1991 when the Yugoslav civil war broke out, making it by far the least expensive new car sold in Britain at the time

We have it on good authority that only two Yugo 45s remain in Britain today, which is mostly down to the original cars suffering catastrophic rust

The Zastava car factory in the central Serbian town of Kragujevac, some 75 miles from the capital Belgrade, was heavily damaged during NATO air strikes in 1999

In 1999, during NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia, the Zastava car factory in Kragujevac, where Yugo cars were produced, was targeted and damaged, though not completely destroyed.

Incredibly, Yugo continued to be produced for the domestic market in Serbia under the name Zastava Koral some 17 years after it was pulled from the UK. The final model rolled off the Serbian assembly line on 21 November 2008. 

A decade later, Group Zastava Vehicles and its subsidiaries entered a bankruptcy procedure. 

But Yugo is set to embark on a dramatic return as an affordable three-door model under the reborn name Yugo Automobile, which is spearheaded by Dr. Aleksandar Bjelić, a German professor of Serbian descent.

His concept Yugo Siaj caused a global stir when it debuted as a 1:5 scale model earlier this month at the Car Design Event in Munich – which you can read more about here.

This is Money spoke exclusively to Dr Aleksandar Bjelić following the unveiling to discuss his passion for Yugo, his plans to revive it, and why he believes the original car wasn’t as bad as many think…

Yugo is set to return under the stewardship of Dr Aleksandar Bjelić, a German…