|
The very
last Zastava branded cars will roll of the creaking
production lines in Kragujevac, Serbia, today, bringing
to an end just over half a century of car manufacturing
tradition as the national company prepares for a new
chapter of its life under Fiat ownership. During that
period Zastava has established a very close relationship
with Fiat Group, building a string of its models under
licence, such as the 128, Punto and original 500, or by
using the Turinese firm's engines and transmissions to
power its own models, such as the Florida.
Now Fiat
will absorb Zastava into its global manufacturing
operations, pumping in 700 millions euros to build a
brand new factory from the ground-up which will have a
capacity of 200,000 units per year from late 2010.
Zastava -
Serbia's national automobile manufacturer - is
based in the town of Kragujevac, just over 80 miles
south of the Capital Belgrade. The Zavodi Crvena factory
(which means 'Red Flag Plant') began its long
collaboration with Fiat just over fifty years ago (in
1955) when it began assembly of the Fiat 1300, 1400 and
1900 models for sale in what was then Yugoslavia, as
well as the other countries that made up the 'Eastern
Bloc' group of nations.
In the 1960s
Zastava began building the Fiat 600D - which was
badged as the 750 - and remained in production until
1981. Zastava's most popular - and commercially
successful - was the 4-door 55bhp Fiat 128 saloon, which
started production in 1971, and although it suffered
from terrible early build quality problems, it is still
built today. The Zastava 101 (the local designation for
Fiat's 128) was part of a new agreement with Fiat.
Zastava also created a hatchback
version, and both variants were exported to Italy and
sold under the 'Innocenti' name.
The company
introduced the 'Yugo' brand name, and in the 1980s Yugo
began to raise their quality standards and started to
export - cheap, simple and reliable - cars into Western
European markets. The Yugo 45 - based around the Fiat
127 - was the most popular export more than 100,000 were
imported into the United States. Their final production
model before the wars - the Yugo Sana which was launched
in 1990 - was styled by no lesser designer than
Giorgetto Giugiaro.
The regional wars of the early 1990s which saw the
Yugoslav nation torn apart crippled the economy and the
Yugo had all but vanished from the Western European
markets by 1993. The factory was bombed by NATO during
the Kosovo war at the end of that decade, causing
extensive damage.
Zastava
resumed car production in 2000 (when 15,000 cars were
assembled and of these 4,000 were exported) and they
have struggled on in recent years, still continuing to
build a version of the Fiat 128, as well as developing
several new models, including the reasonable successful
2.0-litre Yugo Florida (which uses Fiat's 2.0-litre unit
drawn from the Brava/Bravo). Most recently a rebadged
series 2 Punto has been assembled, reviving the
tradition of building Fiats under licence and paving the
way for the new agreement. Around 11,000 cars left the
factory last year.
The brand new
factory will start building cars from next year and will
have a maximum capacity of 200,000 units a year once it
is up-to-speed building two new models in 2010, a
low-cost sub-B-segment hatchback dubbed the 'new Uno'
and, the Topolino, a small city car to be badged by Fiat
and Lancia, will replace the Yugo-branded models
emerging from the factory.
|
