Some design concepts are meant to be taken seriously whereas others, not so much. You only have to take a quick look at the opening photo above to see in which of the two categories the 2020 ZUGO design study falls into.

The ZUGO is the creation of Milos Paripov who has an M.A. in Digital Arts/Media Arts (Mediengestaltung/Digitale Kunst) from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria.

Inspired by the original Yugo 45, Paripov designed the ZUGO as a low-cost, all-electric sub-compact hatchback to participate in the 2011 edition of the Auro(r) automotive design conference, held in Zagreb, Croatia, earlier this year.

The theme of this year’s competition was “Design new car body type for transition economies in 2020”. Surprisingly, Paripov’s humorous take on the subject managed to finish in fifth place.

If you want to know more about the ZUGO and how it became, scroll down to read Papirov’s description.

[From Milos Paripov]

“Zugo is my entry to the design contest within biggest automotive design conference in Europe – Auto(r) held in Zagreb, Croatia, in 2011. on a theme “Design new car body type for transition economies in 2020”. The design finished on 5th place.”

Project description

“ZUGO is a “Low-Cost” Open-Source electric city car, inspired by original Yugo 45 (1978) from Zastava corporation. New name is a typo “Yugo” written on Serbo-Croatian keyboard. It’s target group are loyal owners of old Zastava models and other practical people. Because of the simplicity of the electric cars, ZUGO would be easy and cheap to maintain, and all DO IT YOURSELF repairs and modifications popular in this region would be even encouraged by providing all the part designs and schematics. This way ZUGO could even get popular with hobbyists.

Car dimensions, some lines and sharp edges are kept from the original car to evoke emotions of former Yugo car owners. Sharp edges are in their movement gradually morphed into curved shapes to realize this retro-modern look.

But… since it is based on Yugo, approach to the concept can only be sarcastic. “Features” of the electric cars are put in contrast to everyday reality of Yugo owner. This is how the advertisement parody for ZUGO the electric car came into being.”

Photo Credits: Milos Paripov

PHOTO GALLERY