Yugo

The Ford Pinto wasn't killed by Ralph Nader. "Unsafe at Any Speed", Nader's book campaigning against unsafe automobiles, had as its primary target the Chevrolet Corvair. The Ford Pinto did not exist at the time (1966).

Steven C. on October 11, 2018

And by the way, the Yugo was, in fact, an unlicensed copy of the Fiat Panda, an Italian car. It had nothing to do with either the Ford Pinto or the Chevrolet Corvair. Plus, the Yugo wasn't KILLED by Communism; it EXISTED because of Communism. It died because of the DEATH of Communism, which resulted in the sudden freedom to buy quality products from people who knew how to make them, including, among other such vastly-better products newly available to the recently-liberated, cars.

Steven C. on October 11, 2018

Comedians had nothing to do with its death; in fact, for a while the sole purpose of the car's existence was to be held as an object of ridicule, and as a project to make an art car out of. The Yugoslavian government couldn't possibly have cared less what some Western comedians thought of their engineering prowess. The Yugo died due to the introduction of vastly-better rivals at both reasonable prices and easily available quantities, such as Volvo, BMW, Volkswagen, Ford, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota, among others. With competition like that, Yugo couldn't possibly have survived.

Steven C. on October 11, 2018