In what year did the first Mexican Vocho come out?
One year after Volkswagen de México was incorporated as a company in 1964, construction began on the Puebla plant, where several of the brand’s icons would be produced, such as the combi, Golf and vocho. The production of this last model began in 1967 and, just as it happened in Germany, it was soon positioned in the Mexican market as ‘a town car‘ for its easy repair, accessibility and ability to ride on any terrain.
Although the model was replaced in Europe in the 1970s by the Golf, the corporation continued its production at the Puebla factory for almost four decades, until 2003, due to the success of the model in Mexico. According to Volkswagen, the Puebla plant is the one that has produced the model for the longest time, accumulating a volume of 1,691,542 beetles, another of the names by which the model is known.
The last unit of the vocho that was produced in Mexico is exhibited in the museum of the Volkswagen Group, Autostadt, in Wolfsburg, Germany. The sky blue piece has the legend “Volkswagen de México. Last sedan in the world, July 30, 2003”.
Is it spelled Bocho or Vocho?
The original name of the vocho was Volkswagen Tipo 1, but, according to the brand, its nickname is derived from the contraction of the word Volkswagen.
Another theory is that the name originates from the nickname with which the French called the Germans, “boches”, during the world wars in Europe, and when Volkswagen arrived in Mexico, “the Mexicans designated this nickname to the vehicle, ignoring the meaning of the original word”, explains the brand on its website.
The different explanations about the origin of the nickname have generated differences in its writing, being both, ‘vocho’ and ‘bocho’, accepted by the brand.
The end of an era?
Few models have managed to last as long in the market as the vocho, which was available for just over 60 years, from its launch in 1938 until the end of its production at the Puebla plant in 2003. “But times change and it needs to adapt to them”, says Volkswagen, which in 1997 decided to present an evolution of the model: the New Beetle.
The new model was a success. When its production began in 1997 at the Puebla plant, only 60 units were produced per day, but the popularity that the model gained in the different markets in which it was launched prompted the plant to raise daily production to 650.
Volkswagen sold 1,300,000 units of this reinterpretation of the vocho during the 22 years that the model was available on the market, until mid-2019, when the brand fired the model with a limited edition of 565 units, called Final Edition, with a price of 410,065 pesos.
A Chinese electric with a vocho face
Since the New Beetle went off the market, fans of the model have eagerly awaited any sign from the German brand that it is working on a new iteration of the vocho. But in the midst of Volkswagen’s indecision to resurrect one of its most emblematic models as an electric one -as it has done with its ID Buzz electric combi-, a young Chinese brand has already tried to do so.
An electric version of the iconic model could soon reach the markets, although not with the logo of the German manufacturer, but with that of the Chinese brand ORA Motor, owned by the Great Wall Motors conglomerate.
Great Wall Motors launched Ora Motors in August 2018 as an electric vehicle brand and in 2021 presented an electric model with an aesthetic very similar to that of the Beetle at the Shanghai Auto Show. The photographs of the punk cata four-door vehicle, white leather seats, chrome and wooden dashboards and digital screens, have gone around the world due to the similarities with the iconic Volkswagen model.
Following the reveal of the model, Volkswagen’s parent company issued a position: “As always, we verify any violation of Volkswagen AG’s design or utility model rights and reserve the right to take any necessary legal action.”
In search of a new icon
Holger Nestler, CEO and president of Volkswagen de México, said in an interview in 2021 that “one of the great things” he wanted to achieve in the country was to create a new icon such as the Beetle (vocho). “When you go to Germany or China and ask about Beetle, everyone immediately says: Mexico. Now you talk about the Puebla factory and they tell you: a plant with competitive costs and from which we export,” he said.
“But I want to change this, I want them to associate us with an icon again.”