MINI Chief Designer Oliver Heilmer said the company did not need to trim the interiors of its cars with genuine leather and harm nature by doing so, especially because modern recycling “still gives you a premium feel”.
The way things stand right now, the fabric upholstery in MINI cars is already 100% recycled, and the padding is around 70% recycled. The marque is now looking into other promising materials to use in the cabin, such as corkwood. A good example of this would be the Urbanaut Concept (featured in our gallery and the video here), which sports a cabin not unlike a living room of a house.
Rival companies have also been focusing their efforts on similar things. For one, Ford is making some of its plastics from coffee grounds, as well as tomato peel and seeds. Mazda trims seats with thermal plastic compounds and cotton. Porsche utilizes cannabis and flax to produce composite materials, and Volvo resorts to reprocessing PET bottles and fishing nets.