Why do people in Bosnia adore the MK2 Golf(and older VW's in general)?
History of TAS. #blogpost

When you think of Balkan(or Bosnia for that matter), the chances are the cars you will think of are probably Yugo’s and MK2’s. We all know Yugo’s are there because they were made there and they were cheap and yadadada. But the Mk2. Why the Mk2? Let me explain.

It all started here...

This is TAS. TAS means “Tvornica automobila Sarajevo” which on english translates to “Car factory Sarajevo”. In 1967, a company called “Pretis” has put the licence to produce NSU cars(Audi VAG group cars) and 5 years later, TAS was born. The first car TAS make was, of course, the legendary VW Bettle codenamed “1200 J” and “1300 J”. Those numbers meant the capacity of the flat-4 found in the Bettle, but funny thing is, the 1200 hs actually 1100 cm square while the 1300 has 1300. The TAS soldiered on with pretty good results. Next car they made was the legendary VW Golf followed by the Jetta. Those cars bringed much more popularity in TAS. People started buying vehicles from TAS more and more, since they were cheaper than their German twins. TAS later also made the Caddy, and finally the Mk2 Golf and Jetta’s. You could recognize the cars by having a “TAS” logo on their grill.

TAS made more and more cars and till 1992 it made more than 300,000 cars. That’s an insane number for a country that was in a communist regime. But the communist regime was what ended TAS. In 1992, the war was already cooked up in Croatia, and in Bosnia it has just started. A giant bomb destroyed the factory. The damage was more than 70 million KM which translates to 35 million euros. That’s a lot for 1992. And what’s even more shocking, the production of the MK3 Golf would have start if it weren’t of the war. The war destroyed everything.

Three years after the war ended in 1995, in 1998 TAS was back, but under a different name. The new name was “Volkswagen Sarajevo”. It started building Golf Mk4’s and more VW products. The new company was owned by VW 58%, and the other 42% was owned by a slovenian car dealer company called ASA Prevent. In 2008, the production is over and the company started building parts for VW’s and also this, the EcoCarrier

EcoCraft and TAS later on

The company called EcoCraft(sounds like a minecraft ripoff LMAO)builds small electric utility vehicles like the EcoCarrier. The car serves its purpose around airports and small construction sites. The production of parts for VW’s has continued in TAS.

So that brings us on the question, why do people in Bosnia loooovee old Golf's?

This is exactly why. People love Golf’s because of TAS. They were very reliable, since that’s why so many people bought them. There is no other brand in Bosnia more loved than VW. There isn’t. Because people who live there, are made out of it. They are made out of VW. Their childhood has been everything VW. The snow is falling harshly, but the MK2 still starts and runs. It’s what made them special. It’s everything a car should be to them. And now, young people buy Golf’s and modify the hell out of them. Bosnian people are made out VW. It’s that simple.

Thanks for reading.