ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Lorenzo Otero cruises around Albuquerque in a tricked-out truck, and he says lowriders are just part of life in the Land of Enchantment.

“Most of us have been raised in this environment. We’ve been a part of it since birth,” said Otero. “It’s as much as the culture as red and green chile.”

So when Otero and his buddies heard there’s a push to make the lowriders New Mexico’s official state car, they said it’s about time. 

Albuquerque City Councilor Klarissa Peña is behind the wheel on this, so to speak. She added the official designation to her list of legislative priorities for state lawmakers when they return to the Roundhouse in January.

“We have to look around and see what good we’re doing here in the state. And when we look at what positive things are happening, our lowerrider culture is really positive,” said Peña. 

Peña owns a lowrider herself and knows the community is still overcoming some negative stereotypes. 

“Only a few short years back, there’s this perception about lowriders in our community, right? And they’re a bunch of good, hardworking people, just like the rest of us. It’s just what they do in their spare time is make their cars moving pieces of art and cruise,” Peña said. 

Peña credits the City of Albuquerque for shifting gears in recent years.

“We repealed the cruising ban, we did the APD lowrider,” said Peña. “We started the first ever annual Lowrider Day at Isotopes.” 

She believes, making the lowrider the official state car, just fits with New Mexico.

“You know, Española is considered the lowrider capital of the world. There’s friendly debate about that here in Albuquerque. But, you know, but we’ve done so much in terms of really bringing out and highlighting our culture,” Peña said.  

These guys will tell you nothing says New Mexico quite like a lowrider.

“Lowriding was started here in New Mexico, and so it’s a big part of our culture. It’s a big part of what we believe in. It’s a big part of our livelihood,” said Otero. 

Peña and other Albuquerque city leaders are making it even easier to get involved with the lowrider community with some new park and chill events.

Every Sunday, the city will block off 150 parking spaces in downtown Albuquerque for lowriders and other car enthusiasts to show off their vehicles. That’s happening from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the parking lot at Sixth and Central. Otero is encouraging everyone to come stop by.

But are state lawmakers even interested in carrying a bill like this? Peña told KOB 4 there’s actually a few who are interested. But it seems there’s a battle over whether an Albuquerque lawmaker or an Española lawmaker should get to carry the bill.