They called it the worst new car in the world. American comedians built whole routines around it, drivers feared it on the highway, Hollywood mocked it on screen. And now Yugo is coming back — for real, and with ambition.
Serbian professor and entrepreneur Aleksandar Bjelić plans to put the new model on sale in 2028. This won’t be a collector’s toy — the goal is the exact opposite: cheap transport priced at around €12,000 (roughly $14,000). For context: back in 2025 the same project was pegged at €20,000.
The new Yugo keeps the spirit of the original: a compact three-door body, straight lines, zero attempt to pretend it’s premium. The mechanicals, though, are a different story entirely. Instead of a regular combustion engine or a pure EV, they’ve picked EREV architecture: an electric motor turns the wheels while a gasoline engine acts as a generator, charging the battery on the move. No external plug-in required at all.
The choice isn’t random. The Balkans and Eastern Europe are years behind Western Europe on charging infrastructure, and buyers want a car that’ll run in any village with a single petrol station. The team promises multi-fuel compatibility and consumption of just 2.2 l/100 km in ideal conditions.
The platform isn’t locked to one hatchback either. Later models could include a five-door version, a light commercial variant and even a convertible. Earlier plans floated plain gasoline engines of 80–130 hp, but the priority now is the electric version with the range extender.
The real risk isn’t the engineering — it’s the money. A small Serbian outfit needs a big industrial partner or the production line never starts. That’s why names like Stellantis, Renault and Dacia keep surfacing in industry chatter, and Chinese players are reportedly watching the Yugo revival especially closely.
If the project actually reaches the assembly line, Yugo will offer something the market has been missing: a brand-new car cheaper than most used ones and free from the fear of a dead charger. Is that enough to erase its reputation as the most ridiculed car on Earth? We’ll find out in a couple of years.
