VW's of Mexico

7.12.14 - Yellow Bug - Driving Through Puebla, Mexico

7.14.14 - Red Bug Driving - Mexico City, Mexico

7.13.14 - Racing Bug with Cage - Oaxaca, Mexico

7.15.14 - Blue Racing Bug on the Street in Oaxaca.  Oaxaca, Mexico

7.15.14 - Navy Bug - Oaxaca, Mexico

7.15.14 - White Bug - Oaxaca, Mexico

7.15.14 - Used Bug - Oaxaca, Mexico

7.15.14 - Black Bug - Oaxaca, Mexico

7.15.14 - White Bug - Oaxaca, Mexico

7.16.14 - Pink Bug - Oaxaca, Mexico

7.18.14 - White Bug - Oaxaca, Mexico

7.19.14 - Gold Bug - Oaxaca, Mexico

7.21.14 - Love Bug - Oaxaca, Mexico

8.8.14 - Blue Bug  - Mexico City, Mexico

Volkswagen Beetle’s In Mexico

           

   

The Volkswagen Beetle, also known as the Volkswagen Bug, Volkswagen Type 1, and the popular in America – Slug Bug, is an economy size vehicle.   It is also one of the first rear-engine cars.  The vehicle originally was manufactured by the German automaker Volkswagen.  It began be produced in the year 1938 and continued to the year 2003. Although during World War II, production stopped for a time period.  The Volkswagen beetle was introduced to the country of Mexico in 1954.  The Beetle was introduced as a “Fun Car” (Gerpsia, 85).  Visiting Mexico in 2014, it is clear that the Volkswagen beetle is still a large part of the community there.   Particularly in the city of Oaxaca the amount of Beetle’s I encountered was a large number. In 1961, Mexico started their first Volkswagen plant.  “On October 23, 1967, the first Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line at the Puebla plant. In mid-1968, a new 1.5 L engine was introduced, replacing the previous 1.2 L engine. A "VW 1500" badge or insignia appeared on the car's rear deck lid. On June 12, 1968, Mexico's 100,000th Beetle was produced.” (Wikipedia.org). by having these various assembly plants in Mexico, it began to provide really good and steady jobs for people who worked at them in Mexico.  The same way it provided jobs for people in the United States.  At that time period car assembly plant jobs began to increase in work and just continued on.  However, they were not compensated in the same way that people were in the United States.  At the time the wages were performance orientated and according to Gerpisa, it was equal to about $450.00 a month American money.  And just 10 years later, in 1971, the Puebla plant had doubled their production of Beetles, and had built their 200,000 Beetle.

            Puebla became the base for the production of Volkswagen’s Beetle.  The city of Puebla  was formerly called Puebla de los Ángeles.  “According to legend, the bishop had a dream about where to build the city. In this dream, he saw a valley with woods and meadows crossed by a clear river and dotted with fresh-water springs on fertile land. While he was contemplating this scenery, he supposedly saw a group of angels descend from heaven and trace out the city.” (Wikipedia.org).  Puebla is one of the most important Spanish colonial cities in Mexico.  Puebla is located southeast of Mexico City and located to the west of Mexico's main Atlantic port, called Veracruz.  It is the main route between the two in Central Mexico, therefore a lot of traffic passes through it.  And the Volkswagen plant is an important part of the City.  “Industry accounts for about eighty percent of the economy and is mostly based in the outskirts of the city as well as in some surrounding municipalities. Main products include basic metals, chemicals, electrical items and textiles. The main employers are Hylsa and the Volkswagen automotive plant. A growing sector is food processing. Many industries are consolidated into parks such as the 5 de Mayo Industrial Park, the Resurrección Industrial Zone and the Puebla 2000 Industrial Park.” (Wikipedia.org). 

            Upon arriving in Mexico I initially started taking pictures of Volkswagens for my grandfather because he loves them, and he asked me to.  I quickly realized just how many people in Mexico actually had and was driving around in Volkswagen Beetle’s especially in Oaxaca.  I would see a Beetle, and not even 5 seconds later see another, and so on.  Every single day I would see a Beetle, so I then just tried to only take pictures of a different color that I did not have yet.  I would say that the most common color I saw was Navy Blue.  It was fairly easy to see that color every day and often.  I would say that the next most common color was White.  Then there were some other colors that I did not get any pictures of which were, yellow, orange, and green.  Pink was a surprising color and probably my favorite picture that I took.  I was also able to get a few pictures of the racing style Beetle with the cages on them.  For the most part most of the Beetle’s I saw were in pretty good condition. 

To this day the presence of Beetles in Mexico is still very strong and this is evident, “the end of 1998 it shall reach about 600 units per day. The demand is much higher than the production facilities. Due to this not previewed demand, the initially planned production volume of about100,000 New Beetles per year was raised up to about 125,000 units for 1998. 70% of total production is for the US- and Canadian market, 20% for the European market and only 10% to satisfy the Mexican demand.” (Gerpisa, 86).  So Mexico is making a large number of the Beetles however they are not able to obtain the demand they are having.  The increase in production may have something to do with this, “Aided by a generous government tax break, the venerable Volkswagen Beetle is riding a new wave of popularity that has made it one of Mexico's best-selling cars. But ecologists in this smog-shrouded capital say the Beetle's outdated, air-cooled engine is an environmental hazard and the Bug's revival marks a setback for efforts to clean the city's foul air.” (White).  Volkswagen Beetle is such a popular car it is no wonder that so many people still have them and are driving them around in Mexico. 

          

“The Puebla plant is the largest automobile factory in Mexico and one of the Volkswagen Group’s biggest vehicle manufacturing plants.”(INAUTONEWS.com)  As recently as 2011, “The company said Friday it hopes to be producing 100,000 Beetles annually at the Puebla plant by next year, with about 90 percent destined for export. The new model is expected to be in dealers’ showrooms this fall.  Initially, the Beetle will be available in the United States with a 170-hp, 2.5-liter inline five-cylinder engine, and a 200-hp turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Pricing starts at $19,765 for the base model and $24,165 for the turbo. The prices include shipping.” (INAUTONEWS.com).

According to Wikipedia, “the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single design platform, worldwide.” (Wikipedia.org)  To this day the Volkswagen Beetle is considered a Cult Classic Car.  It is also one of Mexico’s best selling cars ever.  The car was designed to ensure worn out parts could be repaired quickly and  very inexpensively and I think that this shows through, in how many of this vehicle is still around today. 

 

Citations

Gerpisa, Actes Du. " THE DIALECTICS OF AUTOMOBILE ASSEMBLERS AND SUPPLIERS RESTRUCTURING AND GLOBALIZATION OF THE GERMAN "BIG THREE" (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 14 Aug. 2014. <http://gerpisa.org/ancien-gerpisa/actes/25/25-5.pdf>.

"Volkswagen Beetle." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Aug. 2014. Web. 14 Aug. 2014.

"Volkswagen Beetle in Mexico." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 July 2014. Web. 14 Aug. 2014.

"Vw Starts Production of the New Beetle in Mexico." Vw Starts Production of the New Beetle in Mexico. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Aug. 2014. <http://www.inautonews.com/vw-starts-production-of-the-new-beetle-in-mexico#.U-zj6ChgHXQ>.

White, Michael. "VW Beetle Sales Soar in Mexico." The Christian Science Monitor. N.p., 17 July 1990. Web. 14 Aug. 2014. <http://www.csmonitor.com/1990/0717/fvolks.html>.