While this lack of leather is not made explicit on the Tesla configuration page, any mention of leather has been removed, and all upgraded interiors are now referred to with Tesla’s “premium” designation which they applied to the original roll out of vegan seats made of a new synthetic material.
However, not every component in a Tesla is vegan – cars still come with a leather-wrapped steering wheel standard, but Tesla has offered to provide a non-leather steering wheel upon request in the past for customers who make a point of avoiding all leather.
Tesla’s mission statement is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” While many are attracted to Tesla’s simply because of their incredible performance or for other reasons, it’s obvious that the point of an electric car company is to offer consumers a more environmentally-friendly choice. So, naturally, this would mean that many of Tesla’s customers would seek out an interior which doesn’t rely on bovine agriculture (which, while tasty, has quite a large environmental impact). And since there’s significant overlap between vegetarians/vegans and electric car buyers, this seems like a natural move by Tesla. read more
