Automotive History
Initially, the company was best known for its locally built versions of the Fiat 128 and Fiat 600.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Zastava sold its compact cars in North and South America and Western Europe under the Yugo brand. Its final model, the Yugo Sana, was styled by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and launched in 1990, but its production was cut short by the breakup of Yugoslavia. By the same time, the Yugo brand had disappeared from most Western markets by 1993. In 1999, the factory was heavily damaged during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
The post-Yugoslav era has been difficult for Zastava, just as most of the other major companies based in Serbia, which suffered from international sanctions. As result, the production almost stopped and the company failed to introduce new models for long time.
In September 2005, the company signed a new agreement with Fiat to produce a version of the 2003 Fiat Punto model for Southeast Europe as the Zastava 10, with production capacity reaching 16,000 vehicles annually.
In December 2007 Serbia announced that Zastava would be privatized in April 2008.
Read more about this topic: Zastava Automobiles
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