Zastava

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Image:Zastava1100p.jpg Zastava is a Serbian manufacturer based in the city of Kragujevac, 86 miles (138 km) southeast of Belgrade. The company began collaborating with Fiat in 1955 to assemble versions of its cars for Eastern European markets. The firm also manufactures military and sporting small arms, most of them based on Russian or German design; like the LKP-66 sporting rifle (based on the semiautomatic Russian SKS) the LKP-96 (based on the AK-47) and the LP M70 and M85 series (based on the German Mauser 98 bolt action.) Zastava bolt-action rifles were sold in the US by the firm of Charles Daly.Which has started phasing out sales, limited to stock in country, in January 2006.

The company is best known for its locally built versions of the Fiat 128.

During the 1970s and '80s, Zastava sold its compact cars in North and South America and Western Europe under the "Yugo" brand. Its final model, the Yugo Sana, was styled by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and launched in 1990, but its career was cut short by the Yugoslav wars, and Yugo had disappeared from most Western markets by 1993. In 1999, the factory came under NATO bombing during the Kosovo War missions.

Like fellow Eastern bloc manufacturer AutoVAZ, maker of the Lada, the post-communist era has been difficult for the company, and following its withdrawal from Western markets, has developed few new models such as Yugo Florida and continues to manufacture the Fiat 128 based range of cars for the various Balkan states.

In September 2005 the company signed a new agreement with Fiat - under the name Zastava 10 the factory will produce a version of the 2003 Fiat Punto for the Balkans. It is scheduled to make up to 16,000 cars yearly. In October 2005 Zastava concluded an agreement with the US weapons manufacturer Remington Arms to offer its sporting arms in North America.

1 Zastava´s History
2 Current Models
3 Zastava In America: ZMW
4 Zastava Arms
5 Models
6 External links

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Zastava´s History

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The 1950's

The ancestor of the factory was a cannon-casting plant, founded in 1853.

The first vehicles in Kragujevac were Ford trucks. They were made exclusively for the Yugoslavian Army in the late 30's, since today's "Zastava" was a gun factory named Vojno-Tehnicki Zavod (Army Technical Institute). A small number of vehicles was made until the outbreak the war in 1941. Then in the early 50's some number of Jeeps was made, but the deal with Willys-Overland (Chrysler) went off, and the production stopped.

After the second world war the factory got a new name: Zavodi Crvena Zastava (meaning "Red Flag Plant"; later the "Crvena" (Red) was dropped from the name). It first started building passenger cars in 1954. The first Zastava cars were variants of the Fiat 1400, 1300 and 1900. The 1300 cm3 four door sedan, known in Italy as "Milletrecento", was a modern car at that time. (Fiat introduced it in 1961.) Many people in Yugoslavia think it was the best car ever made by Zastava, despite to the fact it is forty years old model.

Next came the Zastava 750. It was same as the FIAT 600D, (4cyl, 767 cm3 , 25 HP OHC engine, rear wheel drive). Its mass production started in the early sixties, it was in production until 1981.

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The 1960's

750 (1962) Throughout the 60's Zastava built more Fiat based cars that evolved from the 1100, 1300, 1500, 124, and 125 Fiat models. But FIAT 124 and 125 were never built in Yugoslavia. FIAT 125 was imported from Italy and later from Poland. FIAT 124 was very rare in Yugoslavia.

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The 1970's

In the beginning of the seventies Zastava made another arrangement with FIAT. In 1971 Zastava introduced the Zastava 101 (4cyl, 1116 cm3 OHC, 55HP, front wheel drive), which is based on FIAT 128. It had a restyled rear panel, and later became available as a hatch back, a style that had not been issued in Italy. It was said that model 101 should be produced in Yugoslavia for both Yugoslav and Italian market, and vice versa, in the Italian market is marked as Innocienti. This car was much worse than its predecessors. It was not made under FIAT's license, but by some other sort of agreement. Without strict quality control, a car turned out to be disaster. In Yugoslavia, people used to say: "You need at least three years to fix everything that morons in the factory had screwed, and after that it is about the time to sell the car." Despite its poor quality it was widely spread in Yugoslavia. This market was always hungry for the new cars. People used to buy it because of its moderate price, cheap spare parts and low maintenance cost.

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The 1980's

128 (Skala 55C) (1980) In the middle of the seventies, Zastava management decided to develop a new model, based on FIAT engine. It was supposed to be called Zastava 102, but later on in 1981 it was presented as Yugo 45. It was styled by Zastava with help by the FIAT engineers, and it was related to the Fiat 127, but different in appearance. Examples were made with the 903cc, 1100cc, and 1300cc engines. The 1100cc and the 1300cc versions were sold in the USA as the Yugo GV, GVL, GVS, GVX, GV Plus, and the Cabrio.

Later in the eighties, there were a lot of versions and modifications. The most important are five speed gearbox and FIAT 128 1100 cm3 and 1300 cm3 engine.

The factory started to make trucks, which were based on IVECO licence. The names of the passenger cars are changed from Zastava to Yugo. The Yugo 45 named as Yugo Koral (in the European markets), the Zastava GTL (the Fiat 128 clone) named to Yugo Skala.

In 1988 the new Yugo model was shown, called Florida (Sana in some countries).

Its exterior designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, its shape is similar to Fiat Tipo or Citroen ZX.

In the best years the factory assembled 230,000 cars a year, the cars were sold in 70 countries, 27,000 were exported to the western countries.

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The 1990's

In the early 90's, Zastava was affected by the Balkan Crisis. The factory production became unstable, when NATO air strikes bombed the Zastava plant. But these events didn't completely halt the production, it was working in three shifts even during the NATO bombing (Zastava has operated continuously since the factory was built). The managers removed all workers from the factory in last moment, before the bombings started, but unfortunately the buildings of the factory was damaged.

Exports were impossible these years, because of the trade sanctions against Yugoslavia. Between 1992 and 1995 it was under UN sanctions, and then between 1998 and 2000 it was under EU and US sanctions. The export was possible only through Montenegro to Slovenia, which was not a member of these organizations.

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The 2000's

After the war, there were trade talks to Hungarian firms, to assemble Yugos in Hungary, but this agreement haven't been concluded because of hesitating of the Yugoslavian partner. (But Zastava trucks are assembling in Hungary, near to Pécs, with IVECO engine.)

Yugos had been face-lifted, the new versions are introduced in the Belgrade motor show. New Yugo has 1,3l 80HP motor with BOSCH injection, the transmission designed by Porsche, slightly new internal and external design, improved safety, and lots of details.

The new generation of Yugo has FIA certificate, so it's in compliance with European standards. It is most likely, that Yugo will return to European and even American market.

In October 2000, Vojislav Kostunica (who also a Yugo owner) became the new president of Yugoslavia, and the sanctions against Yugoslavia were lifted, so the export will be possible.

Now the plant has been rebuilt, only the computer center left in damage. The production of Zastava has started to increase slowly. In 2000 factory produced 15,000 cars, of which 4,000 were exported.

With the Fiat the prototype of Yugo Florida 2.0 made, with the engine of Fiat Bravo 2.0.

By the end of 2002 the Zastava planed to launch three new models based on the Koral and Florida.

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Current Models

Zastava currently sells an updated version of the Yugo 45 model in Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia, Greece, Lebanon, Czech Republic, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Poland and Egypt. As well as all the Koral (Yugo 45) versions available, other models include the Florida (a.k.a Yugo Sana), Skala, and 101. In October 2005, an agreement with Fiat was reached for production of the Fiat Punto by Zastava for Eastern European markets, which will be known as the Zastava 10. The Koral IN L, with a fuel injected 1.1 L Peugeot engine, met the European Union safety standards in a test supervised by the German Technischer Überwachungsverein (Technical Monitoring Association). This may pave the way for export to E.U. countries.

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Zastava In America: ZMW

In 2002 the American entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin, who had previously imported Yugo into the United States, signed a deal with Zastava to re-introduce the company's products back in America. Bricklin's intention was to sell the cars for less than $10,000, under the brand name ZMW (as in Zastava Motor Works) which in the United States would, of course, be pronounced Zee-M-W. However, even though a website proclaiming the brands arrival was produced by Bricklin's company, by 2006 his intentions had switched to importing products from Chinese car marker Chery instead.

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Zastava Arms

Zastava, in addition to producing cars, is the sole producer of military firearms in Serbia and Montenegro. Most of its line of small arms is derived from the Soviet Khalashnikov design. It produces the following models:

BGA 30mm (Automatic Grenade Launcher - 30mm)
CZ99 (Pistol - 9 x 19 mm Parabellum, .40 S&W)
CZ999 (Pistol - 9 x 19 mm Parabellum)
M21 (Assault Rifle - 5.56 mm NATO)
M59 (Semi-Auto Carbine - 7.62 x 39 mm)
- M59/66 (Semi-Auto Carbine - 7.62 x 39 mm)
M70 (Assault Rifle - 7.62 x 39 mm)
M72 (LMG - 7.62 x 39mm)
M76 (Semi-Auto Rifle - 7.92 x 57 mm Mauser, 7.62 mm NATO, & 7.62 mm x 54R)
M77 (Assault Rifle - 7.62 x 51 mm NATO)
M80 (Assault Rifle - 5.56 mm NATO)
- M80A (Assault Rifle - 5.56 mm NATO)
M82 (LMG - 5.56 mm NATO)
- M82A (LMG - 5.56 mm NATO)
M84/86 (Machinegun - 7.62 mm x 54R)
M85 (Compact Assault Rifle - 5.56 mm NATO)
M87 (Heavy Machinegun - 12.7 x 107 mm)
M90 (Assault Rifle - 5.56 mm NATO)
M90 (LMG - 5.56 mm NATO)
M91 (Semi-Auto Rifle - 7.62 mm x 54R)
M92 (SMG - 7.62 x 39 mm)
M93 7.62mm (Sniper Rifle (Mauser) - 7.62 mm x 51R)
Zastava M93 Black Arrow (Sniper Rifle (Mauser) - 12.7 x 105 mm, 0.50 Browning)

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Models

Zastava 750, based on the Fiat 600 [1]

Zastava Skala (a.k.a Zastava 101, ZLM, ZLC, ZLX, 311, 411, 413, 511, 513, Zastava GTL, Comfort, Mediterran), based on the Fiat 128 (European "Car of the Year," 1968)

Zastava Yugo (aka Yugo 45 - 55 /Zastava Ciao / Zastava Tempo / Yugo Koral / Innocenti Koral), based on the Fiat 128 mechanics with an Autobianchi A112-type body