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In Mexico City, once beloved ‘Beetle’ car nearly extinct

– End of a myth –

The Beetle taxis were repainted in white and green in an attempt to refurbish their tarnished image. The colours were later changed to red and gold.

But the new body paint was not enough as passengers preferred newer, safer and more comfortable rides.

The last vocho was built in 2003 in Puebla, at the world’s last Beetle assembly plant.

Taxi drivers were offered $1,000 to get rid of them. In 2012, there were still 3,500 Beetle taxis, but they were gradually sent to junkyards.

The capital’s taxis are now four-door vehicles with a rear trunk, like in most major world cities.

Beetle aficionados can still find a few taxi-vochos but they have to venture into tourist towns such as Taxco, where they are painted red, or Acapulco, where they are white and blue.

“Unlike London with its double-decker buses, San Francisco and Lisbon with their cable cars, or Valparaiso with its funicular, Mexico didn’t declare this vehicle a part of its historic heritage,” Diaz, the blogger, lamented. “It’s a shame.”

At least one white and green taxi can still be seen: in a museum in Berlin. It was sent by Mexico City in 2008 as a gift, in a sort of return-to-sender gesture after a 50-year love affair.

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