The FC Barcelona player drives his new plug-in hybrid car for the first time and talks about his impressions at the wheel. He uses his driving time on his way to a match to concentrate and to talk with his family on the way home. Driving emission-free is in addition to other sustainable actions he takes on a daily basis, such as cutting down on the use of plastic and buying 0 km food.
For Marc ter Stegen, starting a good day begins with a good cup of self-made coffee. “At least I try,” he says with a smile. The FC Barcelona goalkeeper does his best to stick to his daily routines when he doesn’t have to travel to play a match: breakfast, training, spending time with his family… But on this occasion, there’s something new in his daily routine, as for the first time he drives to training in his new car, the CUPRA Formentor e-HYBRID.
A new routine. After breakfast he gets ready for training. He lives about 25 kilometres from Barça’s Ciutat Esportiva, so he drives his own vehicle to get around. As a CUPRA ambassador, now he’s driving his plug-in hybrid car, the CUPRA Formentor e-HYBRID, and adds a new routine to his life: he checks his electric charger, which is installed in his garage, to make sure the car is fully charged. He’s all set to go. “It’s really easy and convenient. I plug it in at night and in the morning it’s fully charged” says the goalkeeper.
A space to concentrate. In electric mode, the journey to the training session is also different. “It’s a very different feeling. When I first pressed the starter button, I thought, I’d done something wrong, because it doesn’t make any noise” he jokes, “but you get used to it very quickly, because it’s very quiet.” Ter Stegen uses these moments to concentrate, especially when he plays at the Camp Nou. “Before a game I have little time to concentrate, so on the way there I think about what the game will be like, about the opposing team, about how to approach it with the information I have about them. I also like to listen to music. That helps me to focus.”
And also to relive a match. Crowds of fans wait for him and his teammates every day outside the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper. Ter Stegen always greets them from the car to thank them for their support. After a few hours of training, he sets off on his return journey. The Formentor e-HYBRID has a range of 55 kilometres in electric mode, so he didn’t have to recharge it. “This is what I was looking for. It’s no problem for me to always drive in electric mode. Plus, if I need to, I’ve got the option of switching to the combustion engine, and even save some battery time in case I want to go into the city.” On his trips home from matches, the time in the car is spent talking to his wife. “The first thing I do is call my wife. I tell her I’m on my way, what time I’ll get there and we talk about the match. She tells me what she thought of how I played, what my son has done and if he’s already gone to bed.”
Different ways of experiencing the city. In his free time, Ter Stegen likes to walk around the centre of Barcelona. “When COVID restrictions allow it, we like to go to the centre, walk around with our son and discover places. So, we make a point of seeing different places, having a coffee or just strolling around” says the FC Barcelona player.
Small steps that add up. At home, he plugs the car back into his electric charger so it’s ready for when he needs it again. It was very important for him to have a car for emission-free driving. The CUPRA ambassador tries to do his bit in the fight against climate change with small actions. “At home we don’t use plastic bottles. It used to bother me a lot to see how many bottles we used, so we have a water cooler. We also buy local food, even coffee. It’s very important to see what we really do with the world. We have to take better care of it than we’re doing now. I think it’s up to everyone to make a small difference. Small steps are better than no steps at all” concludes Ter Stegen.
The CUPRA Formentor e-HYBRID. With its 8 powertrain versions, the CUPRA Formentor is the brand’s entry into the crossover SUV segment, which is set to double its market share in Europe in the next five years. With the two hybrid versions of the first model developed and designed exclusively for CUPRA, which deliver 204 and 245PS, the brand continues to prove that performance and electrification are a perfect match
