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The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History |  | Author: Jason Vuic
Publisher: Hill and Wang
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $11.30
as of 9/9/2010 04:05 MDT details
You Save: $14.70 (57%)
New (38) Used (13) from $11.30
Seller: EpitomeBooks
Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 145501
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0809098911
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.2222
EAN: 9780809098910
ASIN: 0809098911
Publication Date: March 2, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
 "The Yugo" is much more than just the Yugo August 19, 2010
Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"The Yugo" is much more than just the Yugo. Jason Vuic is a professor of modern European history. That pedigree reveals itself in spades in this well-researched, fascinating book.
Despite Vuic's place in academia, "The Yugo" is no dry academic treatise. His vibrant prose leaps off the page, whether he's recounting the tortuous, zigzag career path of the Yugo's audacious importer/entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin, the roots of the Yugoslav wars, or the Yugo's place in popular culture. Indeed, Vuic has cataloged here every Yugo joke, every Leno swipe, every mention of the Yugo on Letterman's Top Ten list.
In the end, the Yugo had a chance. Yes, people remember the initial shoddy quality, but other manufacturers had similar beginnings and were allowed to travel the path of continuous improvement to respectability. The most notable and relevant of these: Subaru of America. Founder: Malcolm Bricklin.
So what ended up killing the brand beyond its quality issues and well-documented PR problems? Bricklin's sudden infatuation with the Proton from Malaysia, Yugo of America's knife's edge finances, and - as the death knell - the wallop of US sanctions imposed on Serbia by the Bush (41) administration. Vuic makes a clear, compelling case that it was ultimately these factors - not the quality/PR issues we remember today - that put the Yugo into the history books.
Entertaining and informative! July 16, 2010
Brad
As someone who loves odd/rare cars, I had to buy this book. I literally could not put this book down, and read it in about 9 hours, which was good & bad... I think my brain absorbed too much information for what it was designed to handle but it was wildly entertaining. All I can say is Bricklin is my hero! The man just doesn't quit!
Excellent book! July 7, 2010
Gaby
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Very Good! It gives you the historic facts in a funny way and entertaining way.
A Giant Short Story July 4, 2010
Randy Kurtz (Colorado)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I picked up the book thinking "bummer, slow read, and boring." Wrong. I learned a history lesson about old Man Bricklin, and it's great. Looking for a funny non-fiction read that will actually explain automaking, and touch a little on selling principles? This is it. Read it and understand why, and how, cheap durable crs are made, and sold. Now it's off to find the movie "Drowning Mona," per the author this movie is full of Yugo's, and comedy via Bette Midler, and Danny Devito.
Very interesting May 21, 2010
Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I was a kid, we used to go to the Chicago Auto Show every year, to ogle the sporty, stylish and just plain cool cars. A few years back, my brother and brother-in-law and I decided to give our kids a treat and we took them all to the Auto Show. I was appalled - the show was filled with a dispiriting collection of unstylish and unispiring econo-boxes. My son was so disappointed with the "cars of tomorrow" that I have never been able to get him to go back since. On our way out, I commented that it appeared that the Yugo was merely ahead of it's time. The comment was greeted by looks of incomprehension from the young. Has it really been that long?
Heck, even if you were there, you probably do not know the complete story of the rise and fall of the Yugo. Well, this book gives you the entire history of that ill-starred auto - from it's inception through to the break up of Yugoslavia. It's a very interesting book, filled with the many interesting personalities that went into creating the American Yugo phenomenon. Along the way, you'll learn about the effects that Socialism had on the Yugoslavian economy, how North American banks, investors and even governments invest (prepare to be horrified!), and the kind of people that are out there.
I really enjoyed this book, especially the truth-stranger-than-fiction people who seem to fill it. So, if you are interested in the phenomenon that was the Yugo, then check out this book!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
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