Yugo America’s PR boss, and his son, were present at a large ceremony in 1985.
Everyone knows the story about the Yugoin America. The small hatchback, which was made in the former Yugoslavia, featured FiatDNA. It was first presented to American consumers in May 1984. However, it saw a significant marketing boost after Malcolm Bricklin joined the fray. It arrived in the USA with a base price of $3,990 and the tagline “Everybody needs Yugo sometime.” We discovered that the story is much more complex than that.
Meet Dan Halperin. He was 15 years old when he went with his father Jonas to Yugoslavia on a business trip. His camera was always with him throughout the trip. In these rare shots, he shares his personal photos with Motor1.com. His father worked for Bricklin and hired Halperin to manage public relations for Yugo America, a new automaker. Dan joined Bricklin that summer with his father and a host of executives from the Zastava assembly plant. There was a huge celebration to mark the first shipment of Yugos bound for the USA.
This is where the fun begins. Jonas Halperin was not an automotive PR guru. He was a professional in the entertainment business, working alongside stars like Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine. Bricklin, apparently, was a showman. He believed that Halperin’s Hollywood experience would make the Yugo a success in America.
In an interview with motor1.com, Dan Halperin stated that “it was the only time my dad worked on anything to do with cars.” My father met Malcolm Bricklin when he employed the PR company my father worked for in the 1970s. My father was an independent man by the time Malcolm hired him to work for Yugo in 1980.
It seems that making a deal with America to sell cars was a huge success for the communist Yugoslavia. Halperin claims that the red carpet was laid out for everyone in the summer and that he took photos in front of the assembly facility. He also snapped photos of daily life in Belgrade, Dubrovnik and the Yugos that were being transported to the ships. Lucky for him, Halperin met Bob Knight, the legendary Indiana Hoosiers basketball coach. The team was in Yugoslavia to play an exhibition game at the Yugo America launch ceremony.
Halperin has photographs and clear memories from being at the Yugo factory during its production. His recollections of Yugo’s production process won’t be surprising, considering its reputation as the worst ever made car.
He said that he remembers seeing men take large metal sheets and throw them on huge presses to make doors. “And then they’d be putting doors on the chassis. They’d reach over into these buckets full of bolts. It was similar to when you go shopping at a hardware store. There were no two of the same size.
Although no amount of PR spin will sustain a poor vehicle, Halperin’s efforts were effective in getting Yugo noticed in America. In 1986, which was the first year of American production, just under 36,000 units were sold. This number rose to more than 48,000 in 1987, but this is when everything began to crumble – literally and figuratively. Eventually, more than 141,000 Yugos were sold in the US. Yugo America was forced to close down in 1992 due to emissions problems.
Beyond that, there was also the small issue with Yugoslavia’s dissolution, but production continued for other markets. Although a NATO airstrike at Zastava’s plant was not sufficient to kill the company in 1999, it was certainly a death sentence. In 2008, the last Zastava-branded vehicle was removed from the historic plant.Jonas Halperin, Head Of Yugo America Inc. Public Relations, 1985.
For a few moments, however, Zastava Automotive’s future was bright. They partnered with the West to create an affordable car that today enjoys a small cult following in America. Jonas Halperin died in 1991. However, he continued to work on small projects such as the 1986 Statue of Liberty ceremony, which celebrated Lady Liberty’s restoration, 100th anniversary, and other smaller projects. We have photos that will help us remember his brief stint in the automotive world.