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-   -   Want to buy a luxury sedan / SUV with no leather used in it (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/luxury-imports-niche/208543-want-buy-luxury-sedan-suv-no-leather-used-2.html)

I think Range Rover is doing textile interiors (or Vegan) for the Velar. It look pretty darn good too. Ask him to have a look.

Try contacting higher ups of big 3 European manufacturers. The dealerships will not help in most of the cases as importing a car from Europe through manufacturer means less of profit for them and they need to go through lot of processes which are time consuming. Top Execs from these manufacturers might help him out.

Porsche Panamera is one of the best option as it stands out from the crowd. It is in a league of its own and it oozes quality and it looks all together different in sea of BMWs, Mercedes and Audis. Even though the dealer is not supporting enough, if he likes the car he can go ahead with Panamera if he gets what he wants.

If none of this works out, he may need to settle for E350 only. At the end of day, we might need to make certain compromises due to the limited availability of factory customization for cars in our country.

Wow, this is a very interesting ask! I am one of those no leather guys who doesn’t like the overload of it in cars. Leather and leatherette covers add to the sweating issues under thigh and lumbar area (Lower back specially) during summers (I am the No-AC shorts&T-shirt guy). Ironically, I got my EcoSport TDci Ti added with Leatherette only to avoid the static (what a dread it became every time I got off the car to shut the door with fabric seat covers on) .
Coming to the requirement, I don’t think any luxury car maker will allow customisation of seats to fabric for simple reasons like: ventilated seats (optimised for a certain type of outer cover), Airbags on seats ( most modern luxury cars, even basic ones have this now). Let us know if he got lucky :)

But just curious to know why such love for non-leatherette interiors for such a costly buy! Leather does add to the charm of the interiors of the car. Why not look for perforated leather?

A lot of this is often due to personal beliefs - religion / environment, etc.

A classmate of mine in school had the same issue - he wanted a car without leather for religious reasons.

Since we're talking about Porsche's - I personally feel the Cayenne would be better suited for chauffeur driving as compared to the Panamera.

The Velar - though a brilliant suggestion, is just too tight on space given it's price point. I would much rather be in the rear seat of an E350 than one of those.

And if your cousin is the one who will do the driving - I'd look at some AMG/M options instead.

It is amazing that the people of India have gone from shunning leather use a hundred years ago to coveting it today; so much that someone finds it difficult to buy a luxury car without the skin of dead animals, young calves at that, stretched all over the interior.
I am, as is evident by now, absolutely against the use of leather. There are many wonderful materials that can do the job more than equally and are cheaper too. It is amusing that something which primitive man used for clothing and shelter after killing for his survival is still heavily sought after !

Note from Moderators

The question posed is about what non-leather alternatives are available. Let us not get into a discussion on the morals of using leather.

E-Class appears to be the most suitable option. The higher you go, there won't be any variants even in the international lineup wherein you can specify cloth or artificial leather as an option

BUT, what will he do with the Steering wheel :D

Not meaning to take this thread off topic, but to avoid your cousin buying a vegan car and being surprised later on imho, kindly ask him about the following points :-
1) The carbon foot print generated by :-
- importing the car from abroad.
- running the gas guzzling vehicle, mileage of whom will surely be in the low single digits.
2) The fact that this surely isn't his/her family's only car, thus considering above point again for all vehicles.
3) Leather covered steering wheel, dashboard, armrests, panels etc.
4) Many tyres are created using stearic acid, which can be derived from animal grade products. Difficult to know how the car's tyres are sourced.
5) Structural steel is processed using chemicals which can be animal sourced.
Food for thought.

Thanks, but as mentioned above Velar is not preferred.

Thanks but after checking out E350 it is out of the shortlisted cars as it didn't feel special.

Will sure do.

As a part of his belief system, he doesn't use anything that has leather in it.

Thanks, Panamera is preferred as it will be self driven most of the times.

It is worth waiting for new models of AMG. Any news on upcoming launches?

Thanks for that. It is much needed as some people are always eager to tear in to each others belief system for no good reason.

Thanks for pointing that out. Does that mean E350's steering wheel is leather wrapped? Will that be same with Porsche Panamera too? Will ask the dealer this.

But that's exactly what you did.

Kindly refrain from dissecting in to somebody's belief system. I didn't start this thread to find out more about being vegan.

The objective of this thread is to try to find all decent vehicle options without leather used in it. Let's just stick to that, shall we?please:

I think the steering wheel is leather wrapped. Also, in the case of the Panamera, you could check with the dealer if an Alcantara option is available. Sportier cars tend to have it as an option at least. In case he changes his mind and goes the BMW route, I'm pretty sure you can get M-sport steering wheels that are compatible with almost all modern BMWs that are lined with Alcantara instead of leather.

My point of making the original comments was not to dissect the beliefs, but to state that no luxury car will come without leather on any of it's surface (at least in India).

Maybe I missed it but what exactly is the budget here? Both a minimum (I believe you're looking roughly at the E-Class but it would help to clarify) and maximum budget, if any, should be stated.

I recently purchased a Porsche Macan with Alcantara seats , since I would primarily be driving it in the dreadful Ahmedabad heat. Not sure what the minimum requirements or the form factor needs are, but if a compact SUV fits the needs, consider the option.

P.S. - Ownership review coming up shortly.

Pick whatever Mercedes you like - they all have an AMG trim they will customize for you, plus since they're CBU - they're more often than not available shortly after the model launch internationally. stupid:

Problem is that if your cousin didn't like the E, GLE, GLS class; then the only option from the AMG line would be the S Class: which could be pricey!
The M5 too could be another good option for self driving in the city - it has very young interiors compared to the E Class.

But keep in mind that he probably wouldn't want to be in the back seat ever!