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Cheapest car ever until recently, ugliest car ever, car that is used in number of presentations about user experience as an example of bad user experience - Zastava Koral Yugo is going to history today. After 17 years of being in production, Yugo is retired today, November 20th 2008. This is a tribute to Yugo and its UX…

When you are born in ex-Yugoslavia (Bosnia in my case) sometime in 80’s, you are destined to live your life surrounded by Yugo cars. Ugly, noisy but cheap cars that were once pride of Yugoslavia. Growing up in Croatia (or in some other ex-YU country) you have seen all models of Yugo (45, 55, 60 and 65) where numbers suggest engine power (in horse power units). In total, 794,238 Yugos have been produced and 141,511 cars were sold in USA. About 70 000 in UK. Yugo was Yugoslavia’s most popular export product. It was exported to more than 70 countries worldwide.

But now you might wonder what is connection between Yugo and UX (user experience)? Today, in this very emotional moment for each and every Yugo lover, I’m seeking a connection between Yugo and UX and paying a tribute to this car.

Well, simply said - Yugo is great example of bad UX. So great example that I can remember seeing at least half dozen of presentations on UX topics that were depicting Yugo as bad UX. Mine was one of those too.

This is screenshot form that presentation:

Yugo was car and car only. One that was able to transport you from point A to point B. Not always, though. Sometime during 2007 insurance company Hagerty has conducted a survey among 2500 people - they have voted Yugo to be one of the 10 ugliest cars ever. Earlier in 1987 Consumer Report published review of Yugo stating that buyers would be better of buying a good used car than a new Yugo. They didn’t stop there - they stated that it “barely qualified as car“. Car Talk has voted Yugo as a worst car of millennium…

But Yugo has made its way in pop - culture and history.

Die Hard 3? Yes, Yugo was there. Drowning Mona - you can’t forget that one, can’t you? Of course, 101 Dalmatians, too…

Metallica features Yugo in their video clip “The Day That Never Comes” - somewhere at 5:34 into video.

Take a look at it here:

Don’t miss “In a Yugo” - parody on Elvis’ “In a Ghetto” performed by Paul Shanklin.

“A liberal guy and and liberal gal
Buy a Yugo…
And they drive with pride…”

And my personal favorite - there is great band called Zabranjeno pušenje and their song Yugo 45.

British guys were having fun with Yugo as well. Honestly, I felt somewhat bad to see Yugo ending in such sad way…

For your viewing pleasure (first part is about Volvo and then about iconic Yugo):

So, with Yugo, one example of bad UX (and part of my childhood and early teen memories) goes to history. What remains are memories and passion of Yugo enthusiasts these days. And, of course Yugos on our PowerPoint presentations will be here for future generations to serve as great example of bad user experience. Looking forward for next one!

At the end let’s not judge Yugo too harsh, OK?