The company wants to become more sustainable by reducing the global demand for leather
Beginning with the C40 Recharge, every fully-electric Volvo will be exempt of leather
The company developed a replacement material made of recycled plastic bottles, but wool blends will still be available
Swedish automaker Volvo has recently announced it will be phasing out the use of leather in its cars by replacing it with more sustainable options by 2030.
This announcement is the latest in the list of measures took by the company to reduce it environmental impact in the last few years.
In addition to the impact on climate caused by the leather industry, the automaker mentions the desire to promote animal welfare as a reason for this change.
The first Volvo to forgo leather entirely will be the C40 Recharge, set to go on sale early in 2022. This is because the company will gradually lower its use of the material by making all of its fully electric models free from leather.
This strategy means that leather will still be available in hybrid and gasoline powered models until 2030, by which point all of the vehicles sold by the brand will be fully-electrified, thus fully leather-free.
To replace hides, Volvo has developed a new material called Nordico which is derived from post consumer waste such as plastic bottles, materials from sustainable Scandinavian forests and recycled corks from the wine industry.
To appease people not convinced by this new alternative, the company assured that wool blends sourced from responsible suppliers, which are already offered in some Volvo models, will still be available in cars that won’t receive leather.
Volvo is not the first automaker to introduce vegan options for its interior, as the Tesla Model 3 hasn’t had leather since 2019 and many other companies are offering greener alternatives as options.
