LIVE BY THE SWORD, DIE BY THE SWORD

In the UK we call them Yugos, but that was a name chiefly deployed for export purposes. The company behind the Yugo badge was actually Zastava Automobiles, which had its roots as an armaments manufacturer founded in 1853. Trucks and Jeeps followed much later, and in 1953 Zastava began building Fiat-based cars.

Production of the Fiat 127-based 45 (which grew into our 55) began in 1980, and throughout the decade quality and quantity both increased. But political problems were brewing, and turned into full-blown civil war in 1991.

The cars were assembled at the Kragujevac factory, which is in Serbia, but used components from many parts of Yugoslavia – Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia all contributed. What had seemed like an excellent nation-unifying policy in peacetime became a supply-chain nightmare in wartime, compounded by sanctions, and output slumped. In 1999, NATO bombs meant for the armaments factory instead caused severe damage to the car factory. Production limped on until 2008.

The factory was demolished and replaced in 2012 by a Fiat factory, where the 500L is produced by a joint venture between FCA and the Republic of Serbia.