Business Notes Autos

Most Americans associate inexpensive, imported cars with vehicles made in Japan. The Yugoslav-made Yugo GV, which went on sale last week, aims to change . all that. At $3,990 it is the lowest-price auto sold in the U.S., $1,000 less than the next cheapest car, Chevrolet's Japanese-made Sprint. Yet the Yugo's sticker price seems to be just what buyers want. Orders for 3,000 Yugos have flowed into the company's 83 dealerships, mostly in the East and Midwest, where just 500 cars are available. Six-month waiting lists have built up. "Unbelievable," says Philip Artz, a dealer in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. "We have over 200 orders with deposits, sight unseen."

The sight is not much to look at. The Yugo is boxy and jut-jawed, sheer utility on four wheels, with a small 1,100 cc engine and no radio. Says Jonas Halperin, vice president of Yugo America: "For $3,990, you want air conditioning and automatic transmission?"

Yugo expects to sell every one of the 40,000 models it will ship to the U.S. by next August. Experts say the U.S. market for a car like the Yugo is perhaps a million a year.