Park—take a few steps—look back. As the saying goes , “If you don’t look back after you park it, you have the wrong car, ” we don’t just see cars as a box on four wheels for getting from A to B.
It's more than that:
We visit car museums and are fascinated by the art of engineering.
We go to auto shows or to the dealership on Saturdays and just look around. Hands in our pockets, thinking to ourselves: “So this is it. The new one. Cool. And so this is what it looks like from the back. I like it.”
We configure cars we can't yet afford. Just because we're fascinated by them. To dream. And to work harder so that one day the dream will come true.
We enjoy driving. We often ponder the technology behind it and are thrilled by the ever-improving driving performance.
Yes, we're actually a little proud—of what technological progress has brought us in recent years.
As kids, we dream of being able to tinker with cars ourselves someday. Maybe even making it a career: “I want to do something with cars someday.”
At the end of the day, we're all car enthusiasts to one degree or another. Ultimately, that's why ASPHALTKIND was created.
But what does the car mean to others?
Just a means of transportation? Cars themselves are increasingly viewed in a negative light. But no one wants to give them up. No one wants to give up the luxury—even if only in their imagination—of getting into a car and simply driving off. That’s exactly why cars are so successful. And that’s exactly why even those who wouldn’t think of themselves as car enthusiasts are passionate about them.
Often, it’s just the thought, “If I wanted to, I could get in the car right now and drive to the North Sea.”
"But we're harming the environment by doing that!"
That’s right. Cars aren’t carbon-neutral. Neither are any of the other products we use every day. Most of the CO2 is often emitted during manufacturing—whether it’s that new pair of shoes you plan to wear to walk short distances instead of driving, in a carbon-neutral way. The e-bike you’re now using to cover distances under 10 kilometers. Or the carbon-fiber boat you’re using to sail CO2-neutrally to the climate conference in New York.
Giving up personal mobility isn’t an option. So there’s only one solution: we have to make it more carbon-neutral. Others are tackling the question of oil, hydrogen, or electric power. With ASPHALTKIND, we’re focusing on the materials used. On the art of engineering. And on the emotions and dreams we don’t want to give up. Because one thing is certain: without profitable innovations in the fields of energy and materials, we won’t have the economic clout in the future to advance CO2-neutral technologies. Accordingly, instead of imposing bans, we should focus on driving innovation forward. Because, in the end, no one is going to give anything up.
Just my thoughts.
Nils