Zastava's new CL and Ciao Yugo lines are styled in-house, and add several refinements in comfort and aesthetics. Meanwhile, Zastava announces that it has hired the servies of France's Heuliez design house. Heuliez will work together with Zastava's Technical Institute to remake the Yugo/ Koral/ Tempo and the Florida for the millennium.

The Institute has begun testing the use of PSA/ Peugeot-Citroen and Toyota motors under the hood of the Florida.

In the first six months of 2000, the automotive market in the five independent countries that had once made up the former Yugoslavia - Bosnia and Hercegovina; Croatia; Serbia & Montenegro (FR Yugoslavia); Macedonia, and Slovenia - accounts for 88,566 units. For the first time since the start of the Yugoslav Civil War, regional demand is higher than the level of 81,000 units reached in the first six months of 1990.

Of the five, Slovenia's is the biggest market, with 37,144 units sold by the half-year point.

Croatia follows, at 28,583 units.

New-car sales of 11,627 units rank FR Yugoslavia third in the region. The market is dominated by Zastava (holding a 59.4% market share), followed by škoda (7.5%) and Opel (7%).

In Macedonia, car sales reach 8,025 units.

The smallest ex-Yugoslav market is that of Bosnia & Hercegovina, with sales of 3,177 units.

Regional recovery, it seems, is on the way. Consequently, the Zastava Group in 2000 sees its output rise 160.4% to 12,782 from 4,908 in 1999.

Cars and car-derived commercial vehicles rise 165.7% to 12,264 from 4,616, while truck production grows 77.4% to 518 from 292.



Thanks to its all-around independent suspension, and to ready parts availability, the Yugo continues to be one of the most visible automobiles in racing across the former Yugoslavia. As the blogger at http://yugo.blogger.ba recalls, "it's not as much fun watching a Lancia Delta round a corner as it is watching a tuned Yugo nip at its heels."



After a two-year development period, Zastava's first electric automobile sees the light of day. Appropriately, the Yugo Elektra Concept uses famed Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla's asynchronous motor, and features regenerative braking.

The use of Tesla's motor in a vehicle marks something of a milestone, as regulating the motor's several speeds proves tricky. Certainly, trams use electric motors, but of a different, single-speed type.

The Elektra has been developed in conjunction with Krušik of Valjevo; Sever of Subotica, and Belgrade's University of Electrical Engineeering. Krušik has provided the 140 volt, 60 amp battery pack; Sever, the asynchronous motor. The Elektra offers a range of between 60 and 80 kilometers on a single charge.

At the car's first media outing, Professor Radaković of Subotica's Higher Technical School notes that the cabin is not heated, and that further research would hope to halve the dimensions of the battery pack, whose bulk makes the Elektra merely a two-seater.

Radaković also wants to double the pack's capacity, and to reduce charging time from 5 hours to 5 minutes.

It is clear that the Elektra is a work in progress. Yet journalists quickly note that the 5 kilowatt-hours required to charge it cost just 5 Serbian dinars.

The ability to drive 60 kilometers for that price marks an unbelievable achievement.


On November 16^th, 2000, Zastava receives international confirmation that it is in compliance with the JUS ISO 9001 Quality standard, in its research; manufacturing; sales, and servicing departments. This is of particular significance when one considers that key facilities had survived serious collateral damage just eighteen months earlier.

Employing 11,540 people to make cars and car-derived commercial vehicles, plus 950 people to make trucks, Zastava plans production of 29,400 in 2001: 28,000 cars and car-based commercial vehicles, and 1,400 trucks.