PETA Reveals Results of First Worldwide Vegan Car Interiors Survey
09.05.2024
Significant Increase Reported in Brands Offering Interiors Free From Wool and Leather – From BMW and Mini to Mercedes-Benz and Volvo
London – To assist conscious consumers looking for cruelty-free automobile options, PETA entities around the world have conducted the first-ever worldwide survey of vegan car interiors. The groups contacted the most popular car brands across the biggest markets globally to enquire as to whether they offer models with animal-free interiors, including all cabin surfaces, seats, trim, and the steering wheel. It follows the previous European initiative in 2022 – and includes significant updates.
“Car interiors made from wool and leather are the products of cruelty and harmful to the planet,” says PETA Vice President of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor. “PETA is celebrating the growing number of companies offering vegan interiors as standard and calling on those still dragging their tyres to gear up to innovative plant leathers and vegan wools.”
New standouts include several Mercedes-Benz models; BMW 5 Series Sedan, Mini Cooper and Mini Countryman; several models from Volkswagen available on the German market; and Fiat. In the UK and across Europe, additions from Fisker, BYD, Abarth, Jeep, Kia, and Lancia have also been noted. Other car manufacturers that offer numerous vegan interior options, either as standard or upon request, include Volvo, Citroën, Dacia, Peugeot, Renault, smart, and Polestar.
On the other end of the spectrum, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ferrari, Hongqi, Hyundai, IM, Lexus, Mazda, Nissan, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, SEAT, and Tata are among the brands that did not respond or confirmed that they currently do not offer vegan interiors.
A PETA video exposé revealed that calves are branded on the face and gentle cows and bulls are electroshocked and beaten before eventually being slaughtered to be made into the leather interiors offered by the world’s largest car companies. It takes an average of three cows’ hides to cover the interior of one standard car. Turning animal skin into leather requires up to 170 different chemicals – including cyanide – and leather production has a massive carbon footprint.
The production of wool also exacerbates the climate catastrophe. Small ruminant animals, such as sheep and goats, are responsible for 474 million tonnes of carbon dioxide–equivalent greenhouse gas each year – a climate impact equal to that of 103 million cars. PETA’s exposés of 117 wool-production facilities in Australia, the UK, North America, and South America have documented that sheep are systematically beaten, mutilated, and even skinned alive for their wool.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.
Contact:
Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]
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