According to Reuters, the government of Serbia will publish a tender for the sale of Zastava on 27 December. The announcement was made by the country's Economy minister, Mladjan Dinkic, the newswire states.

The Kragujevac-based OEM, which has close to 4,000 employees, is one of 750 state-owned companies that are set to be privatised by the end of 2008.

"The deadline for submitting binding bids will be May 2008," Dinkic said, without announcing further details.

The company currently produces two small cars, with a third to come. A CKD version of the Fiat Punto Classic has been marketed as the Zastava 10 since November 2005, with production of the T2700 architecture (1991) Opel Astra sedan set to begin in the first quarter of 2008. The company also still builds the nine-year old Florida hatchback and announced a new PSA Peugeot Citroen-supplied 1.4-litre HDi turbodiesel for it in April.

In 2006, Zastava produced and sold 10,252 and 11,605 cars, respectively. Earlier this year, the company said it planned to sell 13,500 vehicles in 2007, of which 3,200 were planned for foreign markets. The company is reported to have annual capacity of 60,000 units at its sole plant in Kragujevac.