Happiness of having a classic Beetle, concerns about the future of Czech goods

Volkswagen Beetle. It´s not it, folks. It´s him. The vehicle with great V. My dad in law lent me one of his beloved vehicles of his fleet. „Vocho“ or „Volcho“, how is maybe the most popular car of human history called in Mexico. I use it in Tapachula daily. The “Eastern” bloc used to have its Trabant, in the “West” you travelled in VW Beetle. Now, I can boast about the experience of having owned both – Trabant and VW Beetle. In my family we´ve had two Trabant, now I ride the Vocho. Only few people know that the constructor of this treasure, the famous Sir Ferdinand Porsche used to have Czechoslovak nationality and was born in a small town which you´ll nowadays find in the Czech Republic.Mexico remained the last country in the world, where the VW Beetles were still produced, until the first years of this millenium. Even nowadays there are thousands of them crossing the Mexican roads. It is a marvellous feeling to sit behind the steering wheel and feel the old flavours of the beetle´s interior. However, I remember my friend Honza´s commentary, sitting one day on the seat of co-pilot in my Mazda 626 (year 1992) with electronic devices and modern interior, while we were driving from Budejovice to Prague. He said: “You know Luke, can you imagine that in the time the Japanese produced these Mazda, we still were producing the old Favorit, incomparable right?” I said: “Yeah mate, you´re right.” The comparing once again came on my mind, now Mazda vs. Beetle, which results even more incomparable.

Another evidence of a Bohemian touch on this car, besides the constructor? The “Barum” tyres. These were produced...guess where. Yes, in the heart of Europe. Actually, Barum tyres constitute for me the jewels of my Mexican VW Beetle which left the factory in 1989. Why? I feel on them pretty safe in every curve and serpentine. As if I drove in the Czech Rep. Just a piece of genuine Czech tradition on Mexican roads. What a pitty, Barum doesn´t export to Mexico anymore. Why? Further details you´ll find in my thesis, but generally, that ´s an old, well known song – the policy of the mother company - concern Continental - which bought Barum few years ago does not permit it. In spite of the fact the Mexicans like Barum and ask for Barum, they can´t buy it. The same which occurs with Škoda Auto, while being member of VW. For Volkswagen group it´s just inconvenient to let enter the Czech cars to Mexico as they know the probable consequence this would have on the proper mark VW.

God bless the Czech goods. Do we still have a chance to sell our typical stuffs abroad? It´s not about the bad Czech Export Policy, this can´t do much. The beginning of the end started with the privatisations in the 90´s and joining the international concerns. I know. If the Czech companies would not have joined, they would probably not survive. That´s what they have been said. So they survived, but can´t do what´s convenient for them now, they have to respect the orders from their foreign owners. Well, what does still remain in "our" hands? Companies like Budějovický Budvar – Budweiser beer. I am asking for how long? Isn´t there another solution so as we remained with our face, our goods and our decisions? Probably it´s too late. It´s sad – the wild capitalism has ruled. Without thinking the consequences. Money money money. In this article you can observe how easy is to switch from one idea to another. This should not happen, though. I am sorry.