America's Worst Car? The Strange Story of the Yugo

The story of the Yugo: a small car built by Zastava in Kragujevac, Yugoslavia, based on the Fiat 127, brought to America in 1985 by Malcolm Bricklin as the cheapest new car in the country at $3,990, its early sales success, the quality problems and skipped maintenance that destroyed its reputation, the late-night jokes, the tragic 1989 accident on Michigan's Mackinac Bridge, the importer's bankruptcy, the end of U.S. sales in 1992 as war and sanctions tore Yugoslavia apart, the bombed factory, and why the Yugo now has a cult following. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:06 Where the Yugo came from 2:29 Bringing it to America 4:19 What you got 5:01 What went wrong 5:59 America's favorite joke 6:40 The Mackinac Bridge accident 7:27 The end of the Yugo in America 9:19 Was it really the worst? 10:01 The Yugo today 11:03 Recap Sources: Published histories of Zastava, Yugo America and Malcolm Bricklin Press coverage of the U.S. Yugo launch (1985) and the Mackinac Bridge accident (1989) Jason Vuic, 'The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History' (2010) Image credits (resized and cropped for video): 46 public-domain / CC0 images (no attribution required). Additional footage: Pixabay (pixabay.com), Pixabay Content License. Additional photos: Pixabay (pixabay.com), Pixabay Content License. --- Voiceover is produced with AI text-to-speech. Images are licensed (public domain or Creative Commons) and credited in each video description. Sources are listed above for every number in the video. #cars #automotive #MitchTannerCar