By Andrew Chesterton
Copyright brisbanetimes
When you think of a luxury car’s interior, what are you picturing? Soft supple leather, hand-stitched by some white-gloved craftsman in a stark and spotless factory somewhere? Or sheep’s-wool flooring so rich and thick your slippers sink into it like you’re walking on memory-foam pillows?
You’d be mostly right – at least for now. However, while Rolls-Royce is still sourcing its leather from bulls roaming in cold-climate paddocks to minimise insect bites that could mark their hides, there is a growing movement in the car industry to consign the use of animal skins to the same pages of history as the mink coat.
That means, in a premium car today, you’re increasingly likely to find yourself sitting on recycled plastic Pepsi bottles as you are on cowhide leather seats, as brands look to take an ethical position on animal welfare, minimise waste, shrink environmental footprints and upcycle in some very unexpected ways.
Volvo, which has pledged to go entirely leather-free in its cabins by 2030, now uses shredded jeans for its denim interior option, specifically choosing the shorter strands that would typically go to waste (the longer strands can be repurposed as yarn). The company also creates some bedazzling interior surfaces from pulverised recycled PVC.
Cadillac uses PaperWood veneer in some of its -cabins, made by stacking layers of old newspaper pages on top of a thin layer of tulipwood (a North American hardwood), to the point where, should you look closely enough, you can actually read the letters in the lighter areas. The stack is then compressed and used for the centre console, which was previously -fabricated from hard plastics.
High-end sports carmaker Lotus sources some of its interior cottons from recycled fashion industry garments. Meanwhile, Kia has banished leather from its cabins, and says there are at least 70 plastic bottles in the interior of its biggest electric vehicle, the EV9, which have been recycled, processed and transformed into fabrics, carpets, felt and stitching.
