Step inside any Bentley interior today, and almost every conceivable surface that’s not wood, carpet or metal is covered in leather. That’s fine for most of us, less so if you’re a vegan.
Stefan Sielaff, Bentley’s director of design, told AutoExpress at the recent Financial Times Future of the Car Summit, “You can’t sell an animal-containing product like a Bentley, with 20 leather hides, to someone with a vegan lifestyle”.
The company has seen strong consumer demand for this option and been engaging with these customers, many of whom are from California. The design director noted Bentley wants “to satisfy these customers because they are the peak of a trend”.
Sielaff said, “We will shortly present a Bentley with a vegan interior”, although no-one from Bentley wanted to speak on-the-record about possible availability dates.
The vegan-friendly interior will reportedly uphold the company’s reputation for luxury, and will feature “protein leather, mushroom leather [and] jellyfish material”.
It’s unknown which model or models will be the first to be available with vegan-friendly interior trim. Also, it’s not clear if the new vegan-friendly interiors will initially be offered as a regular option, or whether they will need to be ordered through the company’s Mulliner division, which specialises in customisations and coach-built solutions.
