In 1938, the first Volkswagen Beetle — the Type 1 — rolled off the production line. Because all CleanTechnica readers are well about average, you all know that “Volkswagen” in German means “people’s car.” Eventually, more than 21 million Beetles were manufactured in as many as 20 different factories around the world. One of those factories was in Puebla, Mexico, where the last Type 1 Beetle was made in 2003. This week in Mexico, the government moved one step closer to creating a “national car” — the Olinia Uno. It is scheduled to go into production in 2027 with a starting price tag of $8,400. The Olinia is designed to be the “people’s car” for Mexico today that the Volkswagen Type 1 was for Germans nearly a century ago. To the casual observer, the Olinia Uno is not a thing of beauty. It does not have swoopy styling, falcon-wing doors, or 21 inch wheels. What it does have is a low price and room for 6 or a bunch of cargo. Such utilitarian cars were once popular in many countries, including the FIAT 500 in Italy, the Citroen 2 CV in France, and the original Mini in the UK. According to Mexico Business, Project Olinia has begun negotiating with ten national and international organizations to establish a public-private partnership that will be able to secure industrial capital, operational expertise, and after-sales infrastructure to support an initial production target of 50,000 units by 2029. Roberto Capuano, the head of Project Olinia, said the pubic-private partnership model is patterned after the infrastructure partnerships used by the Federal Electricity Commission. “The government provides resources, access to clients, and facilities, while the private partner contributes capital and operational expertise. The structure recognizes that operations are more efficient under private management than public administration. That allows us to compete and operate more effectively,” he said. “We have had several active conversations with different business groups that have expressed interest. Without providing an exact figure, I can say that we are already in the low double digits and definitely have more than 10 interested parties,” Capuano added. Domestic Content Is A Priority One of the project’s goals is to achieve a 75 percent domestic content rate for its components, shifting Mexico’s automotive industry beyond contract manufacturing toward proprietary product design and engineering. CTO Rafael Garayoa said that while global automotive supply chains are inherently interconnected, the new initiative is building a localized technical ecosystem to address gaps in domestic manufacturing. “In our case, discovering and building that entire network was the first major challenge,” Garayoa said. “The second was understanding the capabilities that already exist in Mexico to develop a project like this and complementing those that are not yet available with expertise from abroad.” The Olinia Uno will use an LFP battery pack as part of an EV architecture that has already been finalized for commercial production. Initially, the battery cells will be imported while Mexico develops its own domestic cell manufacturing capability. “All battery integration — including cell welding and pack assembly — has been carried out in Mexico using manual processes,” Garayoa said. “Those processes will now undergo an industrialization and maturation phase because … we are going to build a battery assembly plant. We will import the cells, manufacture our own BMS, and integrate the entire battery pack here in Mexico using locally sourced components.” Designed For Commercial & Taxi Service The Olinia Uno is designed primarily for commercial transportation and taxi services — use cases that experience high fuel costs because of the large number of miles driven each day. The cost per kilometer for the Olinia will be about a fifth of what it costs to drive a conventional car and half the cost of a motorcycle. “The main advantage of an electric car is that when it is stopped — whether in traffic or parked — it is not consuming energy. The constant idling associated with a gasoline vehicle simply does not exist here. That makes it significantly more efficient. Therefore, its energy efficiency is unmatched,” Capuano said. “Because electric vehicles have such low operating costs, they create greater economic opportunities for the people who drive them. That makes for a very compelling business case.” Because the Olinia Uno is intended primarily for use in cities where average speeds are low, the federal government is developing a dedicated regulatory category for such low-speed urban vehicles. The proposed framework draws on existing micro-mobility standards in the European Union, the United States, and China. Designing the Olinia Uno to meet existing vehicle standards would require a heavier chassis and more complex safety systems, which would increase production costs and make the car less affordable. The Long-Term View In the longer term, federal officials see the Project Olinia initiative as the foundation for a broader domestic micro-mobility and electrification industry. “Once Olinia is established, it creates a value chain around it. The question then becomes: How do you leverage that ecosystem — including battery production, motor manufacturing, electronics, and auto parts — to support other projects? By building that industrial base, other initiatives can also evolve into viable companies,” Garayoa said. While the current prototype is configured as a low-speed passenger vehicle, the project plans to introduce a dedicated cargo version in July 2027 to address urban freight transportation and last-mile delivery services. “Like any company, we aspire to grow and enter new markets,” Capuano said. “As we expand into additional segments, our capital requirements will evolve accordingly, and those needs have already been incorporated into our long term planning.” Range & Charging The Olinia Uno will be fitted with a 14.7 kWh battery that has a range of 125 kilometers and a top speed of 50 km/h. It can seat up to six passengers and includes accessibility features for wheelchair users. The car can be charged by plugging it into standard household electrical outlets. The Olinia project also includes the rollout of charging infrastructure. Mexico Business said “the initial phase involves installing 2,000 charging points across Mexico City, the State of Mexico, and Puebla to facilitate large scale adoption of the domestically produced EV, as well as the electrification of public transport fleets, including taxis.” Construction of the production facility is set to begin in September of this year. Initial manufacturing capacity is planned at 20,000 units annually, with expansion targets to 50,000 vehicles within four years and up to 100,000 units per year at a later stage.
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