The Yugo

The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History

By: Jason Vuic

Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

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 it is 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.

©2010 Jason Vuic (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

“This is a fun read about a heap of junk that should make anyone feel better about having to take their car to a repair shop.” ( Publishers Weekly)

No shortage of details

I listened to this on a long drive. Remembering the Yugo jokes from my youth but being years away from driving, I never really had a reference for the Yugo. Hell, I couldn't even conjure an image of one in my brain.

This book ranges from the history of Yugo, history of Yugoslavia, history car production, and history import manufactures in surprising detail, although always in the vain of the first. Its a long listen, occasionally funny and reserves judgement for the reader even when Malcom Bricklin, the auto-importer entrepreneur obviously was a conman who never delivered anything substantial in his many failed endeavors. It's a nice attempt at being objective when muckraking on Bricklin.

However, possibly the downfall of the book is just its sheer scope trying to be the definitive source of all things Yugo. While extremely informative, it occasionally can tire the listener by layering on detail after detail after detail. I

I enjoyed the book over all but it wasn't favorite either. Car enthusiast I am not either.

Awesome story

What did you love best about The Yugo?

I love that there is a wonderful quirky story behind this little quirky, memorable automobile

Any additional comments?

Even if your not a 'car person' I think you will find this story amazing, educational and entertaining.

Desperately seeking shortening

Like the unabridged Les Miserables, the unabridged version of The Yugo contains long, detailed passages of historical exposition. Such things are much easier to read (and skim) in print than to painstakingly listen to, word for word. As a casual listener -- not a business student, car buff or history buff -- I would have found a significantly condensed, more action-packed "director's cut" SO much more enjoyable. I often wondered if we'd EVER return to the "main story," and there were extended periods when the listening bordered on painful. Honestly, overall, I regret this purchase. The narration, however, was nicely done, and the joke at the beginning of each chapter were a saving grace.

More than I bargained for....

There was some interesting info on the Yugo but I can't help thinking that it would have been easily boiled down into about 4-5 pages of bullet points. I listened with the hope that it would shed some light into why the Yugo was so bad and it did but it just droned on forever and I found myself repeatedly checking to see how much time was left . Perhaps the abridged version would be more tolerable.

Not for those interested in automobiles!

Would you try another book from Jason Vuic and/or Erik Synnestvedt?

While these authors chose a book title that attracted me to it, they failed to inform me much about what their title implied it would.

What could Jason Vuic have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Write about the rise and fall of the Yugo, not tedious and barely relevant details of world politics of its time.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Erik Synnestvedt?

Ben Stein

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

A few descriptions of the Yugo's manufacture, much more easily searchable elsewhere.

Any additional comments?

I saw this book on a Dollar General store's cut-out shelf for $1.00. And there were several crisp copies.