Yugo Car

Chinese car companies are now talking about entering the U.S. market, so you’ll see the Yugo cited frequently as an example of how not to do it. Lesson number one: There is a definite limit to what Americans will accept in exchange for a low price.

Introduced to U.S. buyers in 1985 at a price of $3,990 the Yugoslavian-built Yugo sounded like a bargain. It was, by far, the cheapest new car you could get. But the Yugo’s reputation for awful build quality – which some dogged defenders still insist was undeserved – quickly became the stuff of legend. Yugo jokes were almost as numerous as lawyer jokes and just as scathing. (No, the rear window wasn’t really heated to keep your hands warm while pushing it, but you actually may be able to double the car’s current value by filling it with gas.)

Consumer Reports, in its review of the Yugo, called the car “hard to recommend at any price” and concluded that “you’d be better off buying a good used car than a new Yugo.”

The Yugo stands out as the only car from a non-U.S. manufacturer to make the Hagerty Insurance “Most Questionable Cars” list.

“I threatened a couple of times to buy one and leave it in somebody’s driveway,” said McKeel Hagerty, president of Hagerty Insurance.