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Yugo hatchback car fades into history

One of the most enduring symbols of the old Yugoslavia will bow out this week when the Zastava car plant shuts down its assembly line.

The maker of the Yugo car will stop production on Friday after sending the equally loved and hated symbol of Yugoslav socialism to the graveyard earlier this month alongside its East German cousin the Trabant.

Tomislav Novicic spent nearly 40 years at the Serbian car producer assembling the Yugo, Zastava 101 and other models. Now he is preparing to retire after the assembly line shuts down.

"I am sorry to see that Serbia is not going to have a local made car anymore," Novicic said. "We were so proud to be able to produce the Yugo. We managed to conquer international markets with it."

Soon, the buildings of the Zastava company in the central town of Kragujevac will be renovated to house a new company that Serbia has established with Italy's Fiat.
Read entire article at Reuters