Mexico’s Mania for the Beetle

For Mexico City dentist and Beetle fanatic Geraldo Velasco, Volkswagen’s decision to halt production of one of history’s most popular and distinctive cars is more than the end of an era. It’s like losing a member of the family.

Velasco bemoaned the imminent passing at the bimonthly meeting of the Beetle owners club here recently. Beside him was the object of undying affection: his souped-up 1981 “Vocho” -- the name by which many Mexicans call the old-style hunchbacked Volkswagen Bug.

Surrounding him were dozens of VWs and their owners -- lawyers, underwear salesmen, mechanics and students among them -- a diverse bunch united in their common passion for Vochos and membership in KDF-Wagen, the Mexico City Beetle owners club.

Many of the cars have been restored to the pristine condition they were in when new, in some cases 35 years ago. Others have been outrageously modified with an ear-splitting stereo system or a chassis achaparrado -- a lowered body.

“I feel so much tenderness for this car and for what it has given me -- a hobby, relief from monotony and worries of my job and friendships, which are hard to find,” Velasco said. “The end of production is the end of something that I love.”

Velasco, 27, is one of many Mexicans who feel a special bond to their Beetles and are saddened that Volkwagen’s plant in Puebla, about 70 miles southeast of here, is phasing out production at month’s end.

The Puebla plant has been the only one of 34 factories owned by the German automaker worldwide that still made the Bug, whose prototype was introduced at a Berlin auto show in 1936.

And for some time, Mexico has been the only place where the old-style Beetle is sold.

Now, declining sales and the decision by Mexico City authorities to phase out the ubiquitous Bug from the city’s taxi fleet has rung the death knell.

“Real stars know when to retire and ... the public knows it too -- this is what happened with the sedan,” Volkswagen executive Jens Neumann said at a July 10 ceremony kicking off the final production run of 3,000 old-fashioned Beetles. “These days clients and friends of Volkswagen are choosing more modern products.”

After July 30, the Puebla plant will focus on models such as the New Beetle, Jetta and Cabriolet convertible. While the success of the Volkswagen Bug was a global phenomenon, it especially took root in Mexico.

Ever since the import first arrived in 1954, and particularly since the Puebla plant started making them in 1967, Mexicans have been devoted customers. The fact that the cars are inexpensive to buy and maintain, easy to modify and fuel-efficient are big reasons. Generational loyalty is also at work. Until Mexico’s car market started to open up 10 years ago, the Beetle was the only choice of affordable wheels for many Mexicans.

“It’s a car you can go to war in,” said David Romero, a 28-year government chauffeur who owns a 1974 restored Beetle. “I’m already feeling nostalgic about it.”

For now, Velasco and his fellow club members are confident they’ll be able to keep their cars running, thanks to junkyards and a satellite industry of manufacturers that make older Beetle parts, which are becoming harder and harder to find.

“We’re not going away. The Vocho has totally invaded Mexico,” said Francisco Beltran, owner of Xtreme and Beltran Volks, two small manufacturing companies in Mexico City that make vintage-style mirrors, taillights and hubcaps for Beetle models going back to 1954.

The hobby will continue to be fed by magazine publishers, customizers and the accessory manufacturers that profit from the popularity of the Bug. Velasco has spent thousands of dollars restoring his car since buying it three years ago and has traveled as far as Orange County to buy parts.

“The Vocho is a vice for us, but a good vice, because instead of spending money on getting drunk , we buy modifications for the cars,” said Carlos Loaiza, a 22-year old mechanic and member of the Beetle owners club in Chiautempan, in Tlaxcala state east of the capital.

But how much longer this vice can last without new vehicles entering the market remains to be seen. Carlos Niezen, principal of the AT Kearney management consulting firm in Mexico City, said it is inevitable that Vocho parts will become more scarce and expensive over time, putting a damper on owners’ enthusiasm.

“VW will probably keep producing a few parts for replacement, but for no more than five years. After that, you will have to wait for parts, do more searching -- even internationally -- or pay premium prices to get ahead of someone else in line,” Niezen predicted.

Of the final production run, all but one car will be sold in Mexican showrooms. The very last Beetle off the assembly line will be taken to a VW museum in Germany.

Though technologically superior, the New Beetle, introduced in 1997 and also made in Puebla, doesn’t fire the imagination of hobbyists. And with a price starting at nearly $18,000 -- more than twice the $7,700 cost of a new Vocho -- the new car is prohibitively expensive for many in Mexico.

Sure, the New Beetle features a water-cooled engine that is almost three times more powerful than those in the air-cooled Vocho. The new, computerized Beetle also includes ultramodern plastic composite parts -- the Vocho’s exterior is strictly metal.

But technology isn’t the point with Mexico’s Beetlemaniacs, said Armando Gomez, an independent VW mechanic who owns a fully restored 1973 model. Most important for him and his fellow enthusiasts is that the old Beetle lends itself to “personal expression.”

“You can modify Vochos so the doors open in reverse or from the roof, add more seating, or chop it down and take the back seats out,” Gomez said. “There are an endless number of ways to put your imagination to work, without ever losing the form of the Vocho.

“The new ones don’t have the same soul.”

Despite the devotion of Beetle lovers, the fact is that Beetlemania even in Mexico has been slowly dying over the last decade.

From a peak of 95,000 new Vochos sold in Mexico in 1993, sales fell last year to 22,000. Car buyers looking for cheap transportation have a host of options they didn’t have a decade ago, thanks to free trade and the entry of more car makers here.

As sales of the old Beetle have waned, so have those of other Volkswagens, not just in Mexico but in the U.S., where 80% of the Puebla factory’s output is destined. Lower volume overall has made it harder to support the old Beetle line, according to Volkswagen management .

“VW realized that even for this very popular car, every product has its life cycle and that it was time to say goodbye,” Niezen said. What made the Bug unique is that its life cycle lasted almost 70 years, longer than any other car.

The clincher in the decision to discontinue the model came when the Mexico City government decided, for security and environmental reasons, to phase out Beetles and all other two-door vehicles from the city’s taxi fleet. The city views four-door taxis as safer because passengers are better able to flee kidnappers and carjackers.

The taxi phaseout means the loss of a sizable Mexican market for the German car maker. At their peak, there were as many as 75,000 Volkswagen Beetles in Mexico City’s taxi fleet of 120,000 vehicles. Beetles were the choice of taxi drivers for the same reason as consumers: They were cheap to buy, new or used, and easy to maintain.

“The new law is a good idea,” said cabdriver Miguel Esmenjaud as he drove Tuesday morning in his 10-year-old, green and white Beetle. The new regulations give him five years to change to a four-door vehicle.

“The client pays the same tariff for a two-door or a four-door taxi and he has the right to choose the one that is more comfortable,” he said. “I lose fares every day” to four-door taxis.

Declining sales and exports have also forced Volkswagen to announce layoffs of 2,000 of its 10,000 manufacturing workers in Puebla, although the company and labor officials are still negotiating a new contract that may reduce the downsizing by cutting workers’ hours and wages.

Even with the end of Vocho production, owners like Velasco will try to keep the flame alive. He goes faithfully to club meetings to discuss Beetle aesthetics, power, durability and the latest modification fads. He and other members also take weekend trips to visit other owner groups across Mexico.

Admiring the Beetles assembled for the Saturday club meeting, Mexico City policeman Raul Olvera predicted that restored and modified models will remain the car of choice for Mexican youths for years to come. “It’s a way of standing out from the crowd, fixing up a Vocho and then showing it off to get the best-looking girls,” Olvera said.

Are there any negative aspects to Beetle ownership?

“Jealous wives,” said Romero, the government chauffer. “Mine sees them as competition. Women demand time and say it’s better to dedicate money to the kids than to spend it on car parts. But she puts up with it. She knows the affection I have for my Vocho.”

“Robberies,” said club president Raul Ramirez, a photographer who owns a restored 1970 Beetle. He said four club members have had their cars stolen in the last three months.

Policeman Olvera said at least one gang operating in Mexico City targets old Beetles for parts. “Everybody loves them,” Olvera said. “Especially car thieves.”

Times researcher Froylan Enciso in The Times’ Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.