Serbia’s Zastava to build GM models under license

Following a round of discussions between General Motors and Serbia’s Zastava Automobile, an agreement has been formed that could see the Serb carmaker building GM designed cars locally. The deal is still awaiting approval from the Serb government, but if given the go-ahead a new model known as the Zastava 20 will enter production at the company’s Kragujevac plant.

For its previous Zastava 10, the carmaker produced Fiat’s second generation Punto hatch under license from the Italian label. Last year saw 15,000 Zastava 10s roll off the line and with a capacity of up to 60,000 vehicles at its factory, it’s only logical to add a new model. According to sources close to the deal, the most likely vehicle will be the previous generation Opel Astra, pictured, that’s also manufactured in Brazil. The reason for this is because GM doesn’t want the Serb made cars to encroach on the sales of its own Opel Astra that’s also sold locally.

Some readers may be familiar with Zastava’s Yugo branded cars that were sold in North America and Western Europe during the 1970s and ‘80s. Its final model, the Yugo Sana was designed by Italy’s Giorgetto Giugiaro and launched in 1990, but sales dropped when the Yugoslav wars broke out in the early ‘90s.

Via: Le blog auto