dragoljub
Member
I am a fan of leather. Its durable, smells great, fairly easy to clean, and leather breaths compared to synthetic. I may even prefer textile seats to 'vegan leather'. IMO leather should be an option.
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I was at a store today and the first throng they said is that the seats are now all the synthic material that the white seats are made of.I'm skeptical (as usual). Just because the language changed on the design studio, with no other official word or tweet from Tesla... I'm thinking it was just some PC wordsmithing. Premium might still mean "leather", they're just not saying that explicitly. If they were vegan seats, just say that!
Agreed. I've sat in the white seats and they are impressive in how they feel, and there are many posts on TMC attesting to their durability and how they resist all kinds of stains. If the new Cream and Black seats are made of the same material, then I applaud Tesla for making that change.The synthetic seats are superior to the leather material. This is no downgrade.
If the new Cream and Black seats are made of the same material, then I applaud Tesla for making that change.
On one of the Tesla podcasts (sorry I don't remember which one) some time back a listener wrote in with some interesting math about how many cow hides would be needed for producing all those Model 3s once Tesla gets up to a 5-8k/week production capability. I think the average leather interior is like 3-4 cow hides worth of leather. It was a while back ago so I don't remember all the details but that listener basically argued that Tesla could possibly be constrained by the amount of leather it would need
Auto makers tripled their use of leather from 1982 to 1992, according to a trade group, Leather Industries of America. Demand doubled again in the next five years, and the trend is accelerating. American tanneries serving the auto industry buy 20 percent of the 36 million hides produced domestically.
I just ordered a swatch card to see if it is the same.Someone else posted that the material used is called Ultra Leather from Ultrafabrics.
Original | ultrafabrics
Your buddy's wife C63 comes with MB-Tex as standard. Real leather is an UPGRADE option (Nappa leather) for 3k extra. Also a C class is just that, a C class. They don't even Full leather on it.Starting to see this become more and more common anyway. My buddy's wife just leased a new MB C63 AMG and it is devoid of real leather besides maybe the steering wheel--nearly $70k vehicle. My wife's new Acura RDX (I know..) has what they call "leatherette"--43k vehicle.
I've always been a leather guy myself, but if these new interiors are akin to the white interiors and offer more durability and stain resistances, I say bring it. They have the allure of leather without the cattle industry's environmental detriment.
Also, super nice to see them ditch the tired camel interior color for a more modern shale. It better matches the light headliner than the yellowy camel too, IMO. Offering a cognac color wouldn't kill them either.
I think it's worth more than fabric, yes, but not as much as leather. Tesla is charging the same price as leather - that's my problem.You don't think it's worth the extra cost over fabric? I think it definitely is compared to leather that we've seen can and does wrinkle *before* the first time the owner sees it! This definitely is a better answer if the new colors are equivalent to the white that has been around for a while. Another reason to get a look at one of the new production cars (X with 7 seat folddown's and now in the new black or cream).
Good points, and fair enough!Your buddy's wife C63 comes with MB-Tex as standard. Real leather is an UPGRADE option (Nappa leather) for 3k extra. Also a C class is just that, a C class. They don't even Full leather on it.
Yea, most automotive leather is "dyed" with a plastic top coat to correct the color and make it stain resistant.alcantara good / suede bad
leather good / ultra leather bad
confused
actually leather is mostly so conditoned these days you would be hard pushed to tell it from top notch artificial stuff.
I have only one issue with changing from leather is that plastics degrade to various extents over time and with wear whereas leather gains a patina and can sometimes even improve in appearance with age.
It's no longer leather, yet they still charge the same premium? Sounds like a "screw the customer" move to me. Seems like we've seen a lot of this coming out of Tesla recently. While I eat a plant-based diet myself, I think charging the same for vinyl (or whatever it is) as leather in a $70,000+ car is shameful.