report
For a long time, Volkswagen only built the Beetle in Mexico. This is still evident on the country’s roads today: even 20 years after the end of production, the car is still an integral part of some Mexican villages.
Cuautepec is a suburb a good hour from the center of the capital, Mexico City. The roads here are bad, lots of potholes, lots of “topes” – these are the small asphalt hills across the road, without which the Mexicans would race unchecked through every intersection. Above all, the streets are narrow and steep.
The large off-road vehicles that dominate the roads everywhere else in Mexico don’t exist here and you can’t get away with them. A very familiar sight for Germans dominates the street scene here – the VW Beetle. Short, narrow, rear-wheel drive and rear engine, with a lot of weight on the rear axle, as Omar Perez explains. He has a beetle workshop.
Omar repairs on the street, his garage is just a storage place for tools and spare parts. Driving in – let alone putting a Beetle on a lift – is not possible here. His customers pull up to the curb and off they go.
Always looking for parts
Omar puts a few colorful cones on the street so that the “Peseros”, the minibuses, don’t run over his feet when he lies under a beetle. And so he tackles his hunchbacked patient. “Most of them have bent wishbones, and I have to constantly replace the boots because they break quickly on our roads,” says Omar Perez. “I always look for original parts, but if they aren’t available, I squeeze in parts from other cars – not original, but good quality.”
When he opened his workshop 14 years ago, it wasn’t his plan to specialize in “Vochos”, as the beetles are called here. But: “We live here in Vocholandia,” he explains. “In our neighborhood alone, imagine, there are still around 2,000 Vochos driving through the streets.”
“There is no better car for us”
At that moment, a white beetle drives up to Omar’s workshop. The driver is wearing a Germany jersey. In general, many details on the beetles that drive past are reminiscent of Germany. Flags, stickers, VW signs, and some have even copied German license plates and stuck them under the Mexican ones.
“I’m Rene Garcia,” the Beetle driver introduces himself in the Germany jersey that’s a little too small. He adores everything that comes from Germany and feels just right here in Cuautepec. “This place is called Vocholandia,” he says. “Our city is built on hills, there is no better car for us. It’s cheap to run, very good and economical on gas and it has rear wheel drive, which very few cars have anymore. Not easy terrain here for cars, but that Beetle is always ahead.”
Very little storage space under the hood
He doesn’t hide the big disadvantage of the old Beetle: If it does stop, it will be exciting to see how you can get it running again. “Original parts can no longer be bought, only from the scrapyard. You don’t have a modern car, but a collector’s vehicle. But for us Beetle drivers, it’s a pleasure to look after the cars, to look after them, that means a lot to us .”
Omar Perez is now already busy with the next Beetle. He is missing the passenger seat. Just ten years ago, tens of thousands of “Vochos” drove through Mexico City. The Beetle was the official taxi in most cities in Mexico. And almost all of them were missing the passenger seat.
The disadvantage of the small beetles was that they had very little storage space. Only two small pockets fit under the hood at the front. So the drivers removed a front seat so that they could carry more luggage or the occasional animal. The passengers got into the back seat. Some also had the wildest roof racks, some of which were self-assembled. They had a cord or chain on the passenger door so that once the passengers got in, they could close the door from the driver’s seat.
There have officially been no more Beetle taxis since 2013
There are no longer any Beetle taxis in the capital. A law states that a taxi can only operate for ten years. The last Beetle rolled off the assembly line at the Volkswagen Puebla plant in 2003. As a result, the beetle taxis officially ended in 2013.
But in Cuautepec you don’t look that closely. They drive as far as the city limits, but no further, otherwise there will be fines. “My name is Marcial,” says the driver of the “Vochos”, who is missing the passenger seat. “I’m a taxi driver. I’m telling you, there is no better car than this.” He also claims that only the beetle can climb the steep streets in Cuautepec. There are a few battered Nissans and Chevi’s up there, but Marcial isn’t interested in that.
There is no mistaking the sound
He says he didn’t remove the seat because of the luggage – hardly anyone here has a lot of luggage. “This makes it easier for passengers to get into the back seat.” But it can be felt that there are more than just practical reasons in favor of the beetle. Here in Cuautepec they really seem to adore their beetles.
“I have two,” says Marcial, “Pepe and Pozillo, and with them I earn my money to feed my family and make sure my house doesn’t fall apart. Those two are the only ones who don’t give up here.” Says it and drives away with the unmistakable beetle sound of the ringing valves in the boxer engine. With his Pozillo, which means nothing other than “tin bowl”.