Sustainable car interiors - plant-based cabins for 2025
Take a look at these plant-based car interiors for more sustainable driving
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More and more people are moving toward a plant-based lifestyle, and the rise of electric cars means you can be more sustainable on the roads as well.
If you're hardcore dedicated to sustainability in your daily life, you might be tempted by a car interior made from renewable resources.
From cactus leather to apple skin, here are some of the wackiest sustainable interiors coming to a car near you in 2025 and beyond:
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Bentley – Grape leather, ancient wood and rice husks
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What’s more luxurious than leather made of leftover grape skin from the wine industry? That’s what you’ll find inside the all-electric Bentley EXP 100 GT concept car.
Sam Sheehan, our motoring editor, said: “If this is what the future of high-end motoring looks like, we can’t wait until 2035, which is when Bentley says grand touring will look like the EXP 100 GT.
“Who knows, the grape leather from Vegea could smell even better than the traditional stuff.”
It doesn’t end there either – the EXP 100 GT also features 5,000-year-old copper-infused Riverwood and paint made from rice husks in its design.
BMW – Cactus leather
Seats made from a cactus don’t sound that comfy at first, but you might see them inside a used BMW in the future.
Deserttex is a leather alternative made from Mexican cacti in collaboration with Desserto who, we’re sure, have removed all the spikes.
BMW plans to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 80% by 2030 when compared to what these were in 2019, and this unique plant-based material is just one of the ways the German brand hopes to be more sustainable.
We’ve already seen sustainable materials like recycled plastic bottles used to great effect by BMW in the i3’s interior, so Deserttex could be an interesting next step.
Volkswagen – Industrial hemp
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Keeping with German car makers, VW is partnering with start-up Revoltech to develop sustainable interior materials made from 100% bio-based hemp.
Sam said: “VW’s eco credentials are already being proven by recycled materials like fishing nets being used in its ID. family cars, and hemp-based imitation leather sounds like a great solution.
“It’s natural, regenerative, and both compostable and recyclable. What’s not to love?”
VW says we could see industrial hemp being used in its cars as soon as 2028.
Kia – Apple skin and mushroom leather
Moving back to concept cars as a possible glimpse into the future of eco-friendly interiors, we have the Kia EV3 Study Car.
The South Korean brand replaced 69 parts on the EV3 crossover with 22 recycled and natural materials for the Study Car.
Highlights include:
A steering wheel wrapped in a leather-like material made from apples
Mushroom leather wraps around the wireless smartphone charger
Recycled plastic used for the bumpers, boot lid and dashboard
Natural fibres being used to make the concept’s centre console table
Interior door trim parts being made with waste nylon leather
Skoda – Pineapple leaves
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Usually, we try to vacuum up any leaves which get into our cars, while we worry that pineapple juice being dropped on the floor will cause a stain.
However, Skoda had a different idea when they revealed the Vision RS concept car, as the floormats were designed using the leather-like textile Piñatex.
This material, which is a quarter of the weight of real leather, is created from the wasted pineapple leaves left behind when millions of pineapples are harvested each year.
Ananas Anam, the company behind Piñatex, has partnered with automotive technology firm Forvia since the unveiling of the Skoda Vision RS. The aim of this collaboration is to co-develop more materials using waste pineapple leaf fibres for car interiors.
Dr Carmen Hijosa, Ananas Anam’s founder and the creator of Piñatex, said: “One of my first prototypes was a car seat using Piñatex, which was part of my PhD Exhibition in 2015.
“I used a second-hand Mercedes car seat, which enabled me to show the potential that this new plant-base material could bring to the automotive industry, as well as the possibility to bring to reality Ananas Anam mission: every textile we make and every fibre we regenerate fight for a better planet.”
So, there you have it. Plant-based living is no longer limited to your diet – it can extend to your driveway now.
Sam summarised: “A leather interior used to be a sign of luxury, but more sustainable alternatives are getting so good that they could become the new status symbol.
“It can only be a good thing for our planet that car brands continue to dream up inventive solutions to improve the sustainability of motoring.”
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