The Yugo is go! Long-forgotten brand to return with new petrol hatch

Small, cheap cars are on their way out – as we’ve seen with the death of the Ford Fiesta and more recently the Mazda 2 – but hope may come from the distant past, with plans afoot to revitalise the Yugo brand. 

Yes, that’s Yugo – the car named after his home nation of Yugoslavia (now Serbia) and built by the now-defunct Zastava Automobiles company. Opening the door for a potential new model is Dr Alekasandar Bjelić, a university professor who has secured the naming rights. Indeed, he has already recruited Serbian designer Darko Marčeta, who has penned what a future Yugo could look like. 

Clearly inspired by the boxy proportions of the original (which itself was based on the Fiat 127 and 128), Marčeta’s design brings the Yugo into the 21st Century with slim LED lights front and rear, big alloy wheels and flush-fitting door handles. 

Retro touches come in the form of a blocky front grille and an angular rear hatch not dissimilar to that of the Hyundai Ioniq 5. The classic ‘Y’ badge features as well. A short press release says the Yugo will “initially only be available as a two-door model” and “positioned as an affordable small car.”

Unlike the Hyundai, the Yugo is expected to use an internal-combustion engine – probably in the form of a small-capacity petrol unit. This should help keep costs down in the same way as the original’s, which was one of the cheapest cars on sale in the UK back in the eighties.

There is no information on what will underpin the new Yugo just yet, but the firm behind the project says it will sit on “an established platform from a cooperation partner”. It also claims the car will be “modern and inexpensive, while meeting all safety regulations.”

We understand our first official look at the production-ready Yugo will be issued as a design model later this year; a finished prototype will be shown at the Belgrade Expo in 2027.

Are you excited to see Yugo make a return? Let us know in the comments below...