Abstract
How can we explain the formidable success of the car all over the world? It is suggested here that the historical origin is key to the root of this enthusiasm. From a climate change mitigation perspective car culture is a difficult problem, but why is that so? This paper presents a framework of interpretation based on the literature of the birth of the American car culture about one hundred years ago. Agency, not the least on the part of the user, technological choice, and industrial links are emphasized and put together in a framework called “forks and links”. This framework is tested as a narrative in the second part of the paper. It is argued that the car belongs to a product category with which active users can change their lives, while fuel and propulsion is just an input. A desired capacity for touring was decisive in the choice between gasoline and electric cars.
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