Serbia’s producer of Yugo to be sold
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BELGRADE, SERBIA — Serbia’s only carmaker and producer of the much-maligned Yugo will be sold next year, the government said Thursday.
In an advertisement published in the Politika daily, Serbia’s Privatization Agency said nearly 90% of Zastava’s shares would be sold in April.
Zastava, based in the central city of Kragujevac, first exported the Yugo to the United States in 1986, where it sold for less than $4,000. It was derided by critics, including Consumer Reports magazine, which said it “barely qualified as a car.”
The Yugo was removed from the U.S. market in the early 1990s after the U.S. tightened sanctions against Yugoslavia and Zastava faltered as the nation plunged into civil war.
Serbia’s privatization minister, Mladjan Dinkic, said Thursday that he expected at least two major international companies to take part in the bidding for Zastava. He did not elaborate.
Officials said the minimum price for Zastava would be announced in April.
Zastava has about 4,000 employees. The company produced 15,000 cars in 2006, far below its annual capacity of 60,000.
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