In the United Kingdom, luxury automaker Bentley has introduced a new model at California’s Monterey Car Week that features leather seats treated with a new biobased tannery chemical. The car maker plans to use the tannery process for all its leather needs to help meet its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.
Bentley already boasts the use of “highly traceable” leather hides that are a byproduct of the meat industry in Europe and aren’t linked to deforestation, according to Futurecar.com. The latest leather innovation continues to use animal hides but employs new Olive Tan leather process that uses chemicals derived from the wastewater extracted from olive pressing. The result is more eco-frleindly compared to conventional tanning agents, which can include toxic metals and aldehydes.
Marc Stang, the technical expert leather at Bentley, tells Futurecar.com that Bentley is the first to use the Olive Mill Wastewater (OMW) technology, which was developed by Italian leather tannery Pasubio SpA.
Bentley is also investing $3.4 billion over the next 10 years to electrify its cars.