MEXICO CITY (AP) — Janette Navarro’s 1996 Volkswagen Beetle roars as it climbs a steep hill overlooking concrete houses stacked like boxes on the outskirts of Mexico City.
She presses her foot on the pedal, passing a lime green beetle like hers, then one in red and yellow, then another in bright sea blue.
“No other car comes here,” she said. “Just the vocho.”
The Volkswagen Beetle, or ‘vocho’ as it’s known in Mexico, may have been born in Germany, but in this hilly neighborhood on the outskirts of Mexico City there’s no doubt: the ‘Beetle’ is king.
The Kever has a long history in the country’s vast capital. These types of vintage models – once operated as taxis – were scattered across city blocks as their quirky appearance captured the fascination of many around the world. It was known for a long time as ‘the people’s car’.
But after production of older models ended in Mexico in 2003 and newer versions in 2019, the Bug population in the metro area of 23 million people is declining. But in the northern neighborhood of Cuautepec, classic Beetles still line the streets – so much so that the area has been nicknamed ‘Vocholandia’.
Taxi drivers like Navarro say they continue to use the vochos because the cars are cheap and the engine in the back of the vehicle provides more power to climb the neighborhood’s steep hills.
Navarro started driving Kevers for work eight years ago to feed her three children and send them to school.
“When they ask me what I do for a living, I proudly say that I am a vochera (a vocho driver),” Navarro said on Saturday, a day before International VW Beetle Day. “This work keeps me going… It is my worship, my love.”
While some of the older cars wobble and the paint is long faded from years of wear and tear, other motorists dress up their cars and keep them in top shape.
One driver has named his bright blue car “Gualupita” after his wife Guadalupe, decorating the underside with aluminum flames shooting out of a VW logo. Another painted his VW pink and white and stuck pink cat eyes on the headlights.
However, mechanics in the area say driving vochos is a dying tradition. David Enojosa, an auto mechanic, said his family’s small auto shop in town used to sell parts and service, mostly on Beetles. But since Volkswagen stopped production five years ago, parts have become harder to come by.
“With the current trend, it will disappear in two or three years,” said Enojosa, his hands black with car grease. “We used to have too many parts for vochos, now there aren’t enough… So they have to look for parts in repair shops or junkyards.”
As he spoke, a customer arrived with a worn bolt, looking for a replacement for the clutch on his Volkswagen.
The customer, Jesús Becerra, was lucky: Enojosa walked out of his shop with a shiny new bolt in hand.
Less fortunate drivers have to drive around the neighborhood looking for certain parts. Even more cars fall into disrepair and fail emissions inspections.
But Becerra is among those who believed the vochos will continue in his neighborhood.
“You adapt them, you find a way to keep it going,” he said. “You say, ‘We’re going to do this, fix it and let’s go.’”
Others, like Joaquín Peréz, say continuing to drive his white 1991 Herbie-style Beetle is a way to continue his family tradition. He grew up near Bugs, he explained as his car rumbled. His father was a taxi driver like him and he learned to drive in a VW.
Now that he has been working as a driver for 18 years, his dashboard is full of trinkets from his family. A plastic duck from his son, a frog cuddly toy from his daughter and a fabric rose from his wife.
“This area has always, since I can remember, been a place of vochos,” he said. “This here is the people’s car.”
