Volvo electric cars to be leather-free; to use responsibly sourced materials

RahulNagaraj · 27th September 2021, 11:22

Volvo has announced that it plans to stop using leather and other byproducts derived from the cattle industry in its cars. The company has stated that the C40 Recharge will be the first model to be offered with a completely leather-free interior.

Volvo electric cars to be leather-free; to use responsibly sourced materials-volvoc40recharge.jpg

Volvo has stated that by 2030, its product line-up will consist of only electric cars - all of which will come devoid of leather. The company aims to replace leather completely with sustainable materials, which offer the same levels of premium-ness while being environmentally friendly.

One such sustainable material is Nordico, which consists of textiles made from recycled PET bottles, corks recycled from the wine industry and other bio-attributed materials from Sweden and Finland. This material has been created by Volvo and will debut on the next-generation models.

Volvo also stated that by 2025, it aims to have 25% of the materials in its cars to be made up of recycled and bio-based content.

Link to Team-BHP news

benvsben · 27th September 2021, 11:30

Pleasurably coincidental! As I was brushing this morning, on the very random school of thought, I was wondering, why don't cars come with non-leather interiors. Fabrics. Cotton+Linen blends that don't shrink. Wrinkles? We can iron them off sans effort.

KingKong · 27th September 2021, 12:21

This is a great move, leather kills animals, and the majority of current electric car buyers are environmentalists, so they would not want to use leather. But electric cars are being normalized and by 2025 electric cars will account for the majority of new car sales in Europe, so the normal consumer might not like this decision as I think people love leather interiors. Hopefully companies won't do this on their ICE cars.

silentstorm · 28th September 2021, 11:40

This is a welcome move and I hope it catches on especially in India. The hot weather here is not forgiving to leather seats one bit and I would prefer fabric (or any non-leather) interiors any day. Unfortunately the mid to top variants of all cars are packaged with leather seats and no option to choose fabric.

27th September 2021, 11:22	#1
RahulNagaraj Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,124 Thanked: 20,666 Times	Volvo electric cars to be leather-free; to use responsibly sourced materials Volvo has announced that it plans to stop using leather and other byproducts derived from the cattle industry in its cars. The company has stated that the C40 Recharge will be the first model to be offered with a completely leather-free interior. Volvo has stated that by 2030, its product line-up will consist of only electric cars - all of which will come devoid of leather. The company aims to replace leather completely with sustainable materials, which offer the same levels of premium-ness while being environmentally friendly. One such sustainable material is Nordico, which consists of textiles made from recycled PET bottles, corks recycled from the wine industry and other bio-attributed materials from Sweden and Finland. This material has been created by Volvo and will debut on the next-generation models. Volvo also stated that by 2025, it aims to have 25% of the materials in its cars to be made up of recycled and bio-based content. Link to Team-BHP news
	(11) Thanks

27th September 2021, 11:30	#2
benvsben BHPian Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Pondicherry Posts: 46 Thanked: 29 Times	Re: Volvo electric cars to be leather-free; to use responsibly sourced materials Pleasurably coincidental! As I was brushing this morning, on the very random school of thought, I was wondering, why don't cars come with non-leather interiors. Fabrics. Cotton+Linen blends that don't shrink. Wrinkles? We can iron them off sans effort. Last edited by navin : 27th September 2021 at 11:33. Reason: 2 smileys per post.
	(3) Thanks

27th September 2021, 12:21	#3
KingKong BHPian Join Date: May 2021 Location: Maharashtra Posts: 56 Thanked: 77 Times	Re: Volvo electric cars to be leather-free; to use responsibly sourced materials This is a great move, leather kills animals, and the majority of current electric car buyers are environmentalists, so they would not want to use leather. But electric cars are being normalized and by 2025 electric cars will account for the majority of new car sales in Europe, so the normal consumer might not like this decision as I think people love leather interiors. Hopefully companies won't do this on their ICE cars.
	(2) Thanks

28th September 2021, 11:40	#4
silentstorm BHPian Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: Bangalore Posts: 38 Thanked: 49 Times	Re: Volvo electric cars to be leather-free; to use responsibly sourced materials This is a welcome move and I hope it catches on especially in India. The hot weather here is not forgiving to leather seats one bit and I would prefer fabric (or any non-leather) interiors any day. Unfortunately the mid to top variants of all cars are packaged with leather seats and no option to choose fabric. Last edited by silentstorm : 28th September 2021 at 11:42.
	(1) Thanks