Sustainability is the name of the game. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

One of the considerations that OEMs—especially in the higher end of the market—have to come to grips with is developing vehicles that are as environmentally sound as they can be. This isn’t simply an issue of sticking motors and batteries into propulsion systems. It also goes to the point of the types of materials that are used in the vehicles.

Let’s face it: while companies may use recycled steel and aluminum and plastic, odds are end consumers don’t pay a whole lot of attention to that.

What they do pay attention to is what’s on the inside of vehicles.

Which brings us back to the environmental aspects.

As in:

“Leather is a timeless, luxury material that has always epitomized the elegance, durability and quality of a hand-crafted Bentley interior. It has a rich history that dates back decades in our cars and has always stood the test of time.”

That’s Marc Stang, Technical Expert, Leather and Colour Development at Bentley Motors.

The problem is one of sustainability. Leather is generally iffy in that regard.

So Bentley Motors has become the first automotive member of Leather Naturally, an NGO that focuses (no surprise) on using certified, properly-sourced leather in a variety of industries.

One of the things that Bentley is doing regarding the leather it offers is to deploy a sustainable leather tanning process.

Rather than the heavy metals, minerals and aldehydes that are typically used in tanning, the Bentley Olive Mill Waste Water tanned Leather is produced using an organic byproduct of the olive oil industry (which goes to the point of that name).

Presumably this will allow leather to stand the test of time a little longer at the venerable motor car company.