In Mexico City, a decades-long love affair with the Beetle - Read This

In neighborhoods just north of Mexico City, the Volkswagen Beetle—the old Volkswagen Beetle—represents more than transportation; it's a lifestyle choice.

Out of series production for 20 years (although it was succeeded for a time by a much more modern New Beetle), the classic version lives on in select places. A vibrant words-and-pictures essay in The New York Times, titled “In This Mexican Neighborhood, Locals Say ¡Viva el Beetle!”, celebrates the many ways that residents of Cuautepec in Mexico’s capital have embraced the classic Bug.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that in 2003 the last Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Mexico, in Puebla, which had opened in 1964 and was long an object of pride for the Mexican people.

The cars are often passed down generations, and they’re giver pop-art color schemes and a bunch of affectionate nicknames. The most popular one is “Vocho.” The story says that “some say it is derived from the Spanish word for bug, “bicho,” and combined the first two letters of Volkswagen. Others say it is just a shortened slang version of Volkswagen.”

Quoted in the story is Álea M. Lozada, a spokeswoman for Volkswagen in Mexico, who says, “Our beloved Vocho has become part of the Mexican folklore thanks to its unique personality, quality, and reliability. It is a honor to be the last plant in which this iconic model was assembled.”