„Jugoslovenski Detroit“. Automobilska industrija u Kragujevcu 1953–1991
"Yugoslav Detroit". Automotive industry in Kragujevac 1953-1991

Author(s): Ranka Gašić
Subject(s): History, Economy, National Economy, Economic history, Recent History (1900 till today), Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Institut za savremenu istoriju, Beograd
Summary/Abstract: The automobile industry in Yugoslavia started in 1954 at the Crvena zastava factory in Kragujevac. A year before that, the workers` council at the former armament factory voted for introducing cars into their production. The licence was purchased from FIAT in 1954, and a small FIAT vehicle (fiat 600) was assembled at the small range. The new automobile factory was built with the start-up investment of 30 million dollars by FIAT in 1962, for the yearly output of 32 000 cars. It was soon rebuilt and expanded its capacity for the output of 82 000. That marked the beginning of the large scale automobile industry in Yugoslavia. Cars, especially the small-engine ones, were in high demand in the 1960s, but due to the small purchasing power of the Yugoslav population, they were mostly sold on credit. The most popular was "zastava 750", in production for the next 30 years. The Crvena zastava car factory started exporting its products in the early 1960s.

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