Vochos Unidos Photobook by Rodrigo Gaya Villar

Volkswagen Beetle in Mexico City, from Vochos Unidos by Rodrigo Gaya Villar, published by Carrara Media

Vochos Unidos

An Automotive Travelogue through Mexico

By Rodrigo Gaya Villar

Order the Standard Edition → Order the Limited Edition →

A Dream Book for Volkswagen Beetle Fans

In the captivating bilingual photobook Vochos Unidos, photographer Rodrigo Gaya Villar explores the streets of Mexico City and its surrounding mountain towns on the hunt for El Vocho — the Spanish term of endearment for the iconic Volkswagen Beetle. Vochos, and the vocheros who preserve them, become the pathway for Gaya Villar to rediscover his ancestral home country.

Along his travels, Gaya learns how the 60-year-old German automobile reshaped Mexico’s trajectory with easy, affordable transportation. Now it fuels a passionate community of vocheros who encapsulate its enduring spirit, and embrace its role in shaping contemporary Mexican identity.

Key features:

300 pages of stunning photography
Vibrant people and locations depicting the full Mexican experience
A project five years in the making
Bilingual essays introducing each chapter, written in both Spanish and English
Ranked among the Best Automotive Coffee Table Books of 2026

Inside the Book

Overhead view of the Xochivolks festival celebrating Volkswagen Beetles in Mexico City, from Vochos Unidos by Rodrigo Gaya Villar, published by Carrara Media Interior page from Vochos Unidos — Volkswagen Beetle on a Mexico City street, photographed by Rodrigo Gaya Villar

Praise for Vochos Unidos

“Through the author’s creative, patient eye for composition and moment, the beloved Volkswagen Beetle chug-chugs into our hearts as a resilient, iconic symbol of Mexican pop culture and street life. Patched with ingenuity, painted in rebellion, parked in the middle of life, these vochos persevere as vessels of Mexican memory and mischief. Gaya Villar is a rare talent capable of merging the rawness of documentary photography with the art of portraiture. We are willing and enchanted passengers on his visual road trip through not only Mexico, but the unstoppable human spirit.”
— Patrick Farrell, Pulitzer Prize Winner for Breaking News Photography, 2009

“The Volkswagen Beetle is such an iconic car and I can’t think of a better place to photograph them than their natural habitat. Gaya seamlessly incorporates each vehicle and tells a story with each photo. It’s not always about the car, which makes Vochos Unidos so warm and relatable. I’m proud to have this book on my coffee table.”
— Larry Chen, author of Life At Shutter Speed

“By seamlessly blending playful punch-buggy car-spotting with stunningly framed street photography, Rodrigo Gaya Villar vividly demonstrates that ‘car culture’ simply is culture. His eye for dusty old beaters and tucked-away alleys highlights what other artists might ignore, and his work feels fresh and novel even with the iconic silhouette of the vocho as its uniting theme. Far more than a book of automotive photography, Vochos Unidos is a gorgeously affectionate portrait of both the Beetle and Mexico.”
— Victoria Scott, author of We Deserve This

“Through a camera and his creative eye, Rodrigo Gaya Villar investigates Volkswagen Beetles known as vochos from every imaginable perspective. In the process, he shows us joy, freedom, strife, and the pulse of megacity living. Across hundreds of beautiful photographs of this automotive icon, Vochos Unidos depicts humanity itself.”
— Kevin McCauley, author of Waiting for the Sun to Come Down

“Vochos Unidos is a dazzling, street-level tour of Mexico’s towns and cities, with the country’s ubiquitous Volkswagen Bug at its center. Gaya Villar roams Mexico’s regions, spotting these vochos everywhere from the back alleys of Mexico City to the sandy shores of Oaxaca. The book is a visually poetic love letter to his homeland and its favorite, adopted child.”
— Oliver Wang, author of Cruising J-Town and Professor of Sociology, California State University Long Beach

Choose Your Edition

Two versions of Vochos Unidos are available:

Standard Edition — $54.99. Premium hardcover with over 300 pages of stunning photography. Available to bundle with a specially-designed enamel pin depicting a vocho from the book by Leen Customs for an additional $15.00.
Limited Edition — $124.99. A collector’s item signed by the author. Only 500 copies produced, with an exclusive slipcase and a Limited Edition-only Leen Customs enamel pin.

Order the Standard Edition → Order the Limited Edition →

Bilingual Photography Book on Mexico

Vochos Unidos is the definitive bilingual photography book on Mexico and its iconic Vocho culture. Essays in the book are written in both Spanish and English, making it accessible to readers across the Americas and beyond.

Enjoy the variety and identity of Mexico and its people with this unique collector’s item. To read a Q&A with Rodrigo Gaya Villar about Vochos Unidos, click here.