A Mexico City neighborhood keeps the iconic Volkswagen Beetle alive
The Volkswagen Beetle may have been born in Germany, but the “Bug” is king in a neighborhood on the fringes of Mexico City
MEXICO CITY — Janette Navarro’s 1996 Volkswagen Beetle roars as it barrels up a steep hill overlooking concrete houses stacked like boxes on the outskirts of Mexico City.
She presses her foot on the pedal, passes a lime green Beetle like hers, then one marked with red and yellow, then another painted a bright sea blue.
“No other car gets up 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 fringes of Mexico City, there’s no doubt about it: The «Bug” is king.
The Beetle has a long history in the country’s sprawling capital. The old-school models like these — once driven as taxis — used to dot city blocks as the quirky look captured the fascination of many around the world. It was long known as “the people’s car.”
But after production of older models halted in Mexico in 2003, and the newer versions in 2019, the Bug population is dwindling in the metro area of 23 million people. 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 inexpensive and the engine located in the back of the vehicle gives it more power to climb the neighborhood's steep hills.
Navarro began driving Beetles for work eight years ago as a way to feed her three children and put them through school.
“When they ask me what I do for work, I say proudly that I’m a vochera (a vocho driver),” Navarro said a day before the International Day of the VW
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