Milestones in Automotive History: Yugo GVX

Feel the power of the Yugo GVX!

Yugo introduced its unreliable, underpowered, hopelessly antiquated GV hatchback in 1986 to worldwide jeering and derision; a level of scorn that only grew as people became more familiar with the intrinsic problems with an ancient FIAT design assembled with all the meticulous disregard and thorough apathy of Yugoslavia's Zastava auto group.

The GV's carbureted, 61-horsepower four-cylinder engine, its antediluvian suspension desion, and four-speed manual transmission were part of the problem. The remainder of the car constituted the rest of the problem.

In response to the deafening lack of demand for a performance variant of the GV came the GVX - a hot-rod Yugo that in thoroughly failing to meet even the dimmest expectations became a Milestone in Automotive History.

The extensive revision and customization process added alloy wheels, a stripe of metallic paint along the bottom of the side rocker panels, a sport steering wheel, and a dizzying array of engine revisions that boosted available power from 61 horsepower to, well, 61 horsepower. These modifications had all the enhancing effect one would expect from spraying Lysol into a vat of raw sewage.

According to Kelly Blue Book, a 1987 Yugo GVX with 180,000 miles and in "Fair" condition (an iffy proposition since most Yugos didn't leave the factory in "Fair" condition) is now worth $400.

One quasi-enthusiast has set up a hilarious page in which he claims his Yugo GVX "ownz joo."

Yugo eventually withdrew from the U.S. market in the early 1990s due to both poor sales and, according to one site, the fact that the EPA was on the verge of forcing Yugo to recall every car sold for failing to meet emissions standards.

What has been so far left unsaid in this sordid tale is that part of me thinks the Yugo is actually not a terrible looking car.


This modified Yugo GVX "ownz joo."