Land Rover Exec Condemns Leather Car Interiors

In a recent interview with media outlet Stuff, Gerard Gabriel (“Gerry”) McGovern, design director of British vehicle brand Land Rover, outlined a shift toward non-leather interiors occurring in the automobile industry. “The attitude toward animal byproducts is changing,” McGovern said. “Personally, I’d be quite happy to move away from leather tomorrow. I don’t like that we have to slaughter all those cows to create leather.” While Land Rover still uses wool in its new fabric interior options, the perception that leather equates to luxury—and, conversely, that fabric interiors are of lower quality—is changing, McGovern said, thanks to a growing demand of animal-free options and the positive response in developing them by companies such as Tesla, which quietly replaced all of its leather options with vegan materials last month. “If we can do it in a way that’s responsible when the world is changing massively, and sustainable,” McGovern said, “then I think that’s a good thing.”