Autobegeist, the German word for "car enthusiast"
Parking – walking a few steps – looking around. According to a saying „If you don`t look back after you park it, you have the wrong car“, we don`t just see the cars as a box with four wheels to get from A to B.
It's more than that:
We visit car museums and are fascinated by the art of their engineering.
When we go to car fairs or Saturday to the car dealership, we simply have a look. With our hands in our pockets and thoughts in our heads: „So that’s him. The newcomer. Cool. So that‘ s him from the back. I like that.“
We configure cars we can't afford yet. Simply because we're fascinated by them. Just daydreaming. And to work harder so that one day that dream will become a reality.
We enjoy driving. We often question the technology and are enthusiastic about the ever-improving driving characteristics.
And YES! Sometimes we’re proud of what technological progress has brought us in recent years.
We dreamed as a child of being able to fix our own car. Maybe even make it our profession: „I want to work with cars.“
At the end of the day, we're all probably car enthusiasts to one degree or another. That's why ASPHALTKIND was created.
But what does a car mean to other people?
Is there only one way to get around? The car itself is increasingly losing its appeal. But no one wants to do without it. No one wants to miss out on the luxury—even if only in their imagination—of being able to get into a car and just start driving. This is exactly why the car is so successful. And that’s also why even those who don’t consider themselves car enthusiasts are so enthusiastic about it.
Sometimes it’s just the thought „I could, if I wanted to, get in the car right now and head for the North Sea.“
„But we’re harming the environment!“
That’s true. Cars aren’t CO2-neutral. Just like all the other products you use every day. Most of the CO2 is often emitted during production. Whether it’s a new pair of shoes that you plan to wear to walk short distances instead of driving to reduce CO2 emissions; an e-bike that lets you cover distances of less than 10 kilometers; or a carbon-fiber boat to sail CO2-neutrally to the climate conference in New York.
Giving up individual mobility will not work. So there‘ s only one solution: we have to make it more CO2-neutral. The question of oil, hydrogen or electricity is a matter for other parties. With ASPHALTKIND, we are focusing on the used materials. The engineering. And on the emotions and dreams that we do not want to miss. Because one thing is for sure, without profitable innovations in the field of energy and materials, we will lack the economic power to advance CO2-neutral technologies in the future. Therefore, instead of bans, we should rather promote innovations. After all, no one is going to give up on something.
Just my thoughts.
Nils