VOCHOS UNIDOS

An Automotive Travelogue through Mexico

By Author RODRIGO GAYA VILLAR

Vochos Unidos, an automotive photography book by Rodrigo Gaya Villar, follows the Volkswagen Beetle - aka "Vocho" - across Mexico in this captivating bilingual coffee table book. Published by Carrara Media, 2026.

Vochos Unidos by Rodrigo Gaya Villar, releasing in April 2026.

An overhead view from the annual festival Xochivolks, celebrating the "Vocho" or Volkswagen Beetle, in Mexico City from the coffee table book Vochos Unidos by photographer Rodrigo Gaya Villar. Published by Carrara Media, 2026.

In this captivating bilingual photobook, one photographer spends five years exploring 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 Rodrigo 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.

Over 300 pages, Gaya's debut collection Vochos Unidos introduces the reader to vibrant people and locations that place the full Mexico experience on display. Through moments of triumph and heartbreak, laughter and despair, pride and humility, Vochos Unidos chases the Beetle across a culture and landscape as diverse as any in the world. We become attuned to the spirit of the Vocho, and the adopted homeland that celebrates it.

To read a Q&A with Rodrigo Gaya Villar about Vochos Unidos, click here.

ISBN: 979-8-991-62269-1

“I wanted to make an anthropological study of a country, its people, and the car that has become its mascot. ”
— Rodrigo Gaya Villar
Cover of the coffee table book Vochos Unidos, by photographer Rodrigo Gaya Villar, an automotive travelogue through Mexico in search of culture and meaning through El Vocho — the Spanish term of endearment for the beloved Volkswagen Beetle.
Interior spread from the coffee table book Vochos Unidos, by photographer Rodrigo Gaya Villar, an automotive travelogue through Mexico in search of culture and meaning through El Vocho — the Spanish term of endearment for the beloved Volkswagen Beetl
Sample page from the coffee table book Vochos Unidos, by photographer Rodrigo Gaya Villar, an automotive travelogue through Mexico in search of culture and meaning through El Vocho — the Spanish term of endearment for the beloved Volkswagen Beetle.
Sample page from the coffee table book Vochos Unidos, by photographer Rodrigo Gaya Villar, an automotive travelogue through Mexico in search of culture and meaning through El Vocho — the Spanish term of endearment for the beloved Volkswagen Beetle.
Sample page from the coffee table book Vochos Unidos, by photographer Rodrigo Gaya Villar, an automotive travelogue through Mexico in search of culture and meaning through El Vocho — the Spanish term of endearment for the beloved Volkswagen Beetle.
Sample page from the coffee table book Vochos Unidos, by photographer Rodrigo Gaya Villar, an automotive travelogue through Mexico in search of culture and meaning through El Vocho — the Spanish term of endearment for the beloved Volkswagen Beetle.
Back cover of the coffee table book Vochos Unidos, by photographer Rodrigo Gaya Villar, an automotive travelogue through Mexico in search of culture and meaning through El Vocho — the Spanish term of endearment for the beloved Volkswagen Beetle.