Word: yugo
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When Yugoslavia's Yugo invaded the U.S. in 1985, Americans got their first chance to test the workmanship of a Communist automaker. The reaction so far has been lukewarm, but now another East European country is preparing an assault on the U.S. market. Auto-Dacia, Rumania's state-run car company, plans to introduce its Oltcit, Aro and Dacia models this spring. That could start a price war among comrades. The Oltcit, a three-door hatchback, will go for $3,980 -- $10 less than the cost of a Yugo...
...opposite end of the price scale, South Korea's Hyundai Excel has made a dazzling debut. The $4,995 subcompact has sold more than 130,000 units so far in 1986, a record for an imported auto's first year. Much less ; successful was the invasion of Yugoslavia's Yugo, a remodeled Fiat that sells for $3,990 and is billed as the cheapest new car in the U.S. The monthly Consumer Reports urged its readers to buy a good used car instead. So far in 1986, fewer than 28,000 Yugos have been sold...
Most Americans associate inexpensive, imported cars with vehicles made in Japan. The Yugoslav-made Yugo GV, which went on sale last week, aims to change . all that. At $3,990 it is the lowest-price auto sold in the U.S., $1,000 less than the next cheapest car, Chevrolet's Japanese-made Sprint. Yet the Yugo's sticker price seems to be just what buyers want. Orders for 3,000 Yugos have flowed into the company's 83 dealerships, mostly in the East and Midwest, where just 500 cars are available. Six-month waiting lists have built up. "Unbelievable," says...
...sight is not much to look at. The Yugo is boxy and jut-jawed, sheer utility on four wheels, with a small 1,100 cc engine and no radio. Says Jonas Halperin, vice president of Yugo America: "For $3,990, you want air conditioning and automatic transmission...
...Yugo expects to sell every one of the 40,000 models it will ship to the U.S. by next August. Experts say the U.S. market for a car like the Yugo is perhaps a million a year...