Gojirra99

BERLIN (Reuters) - Mercedes-Benz has agreed to offer "leather-free" versions of all its luxury cars to pacify an animal rights group that says thousands of cows are slaughtered each year for leather car seats and interiors.

After complaints from the German chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, DaimlerChrysler said its Mercedes subsidiary will offer fabric or synthetic leather as options. Daimler spokeswoman Ursula Mertzig-Stein said that far from wanting leather-free cars, "our customers ... are more likely to want even more leather at the premium end. But we'll make cars without leather on demand."

PETA officials, who had threatened protests at the carmaker's Stuttgart headquarters, said they were delighted.

"When you consider that the skins of four to 15 cows are needed for each car this means thousands of cows will be spared," said PETA researcher Edmund Haferbeck. "This is a huge victory for animal rights."

source : reuters.com

SecPole14

Neat-o. I'm a huge fan of cloth.

<VENOM>

They don't kill cows for leather seats that would be stupid, they take the skins from the beef companies, duh

mmarshall

I'm with you on that one. I prefer cloth too, as long as it is a good durable fabric that won't rip after a couple of months or years.
I have a unusual cloth-seat IS300 myself with fabric that is like iron.

mooretorque

Count me half way in. Cloth is cooler in summer, warmer in winter, holds you in place better, and the material has actually progressed to the point that it probably will wear as long as properly cared for leather.

But I gotta say I do like the way my leather seats "wear in" and I learned how to drive in a 1958 MGA with leather seats; of course, they smelled like real leather as opposed to the stuff in our cars...........except when I use Sal Zaino's stuff! Of course, they were there not because it was a "luxury" material but because they wore much longer than cloth back then.

RobSoVIP

interesting... The only cloth seats I have ever seen in a Lex were in a OLD SC3 that came with cloth and no sun roof, or a loaner IS3... (I have never been in a ES, and am not familiar if they were ever available with cloth...)

Falcon LS

I'm lost! Cows are slaughtered for things cheeseburgers and steaks. Why not make use of the hides?

Chigga

I don't mind high quality cloth seats, but why doing it just to satisfy the animal rights group? what's next? the CEO announce he's vegetarian just to get the PETA to like him?

e43Guy

C-Train

even if they were slaughtered for their hides, they still would be killed to make food

and LMAO at the picture up there ^^^^^ haha

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

That is some sick picture. Such big men shooting birds it looks like.

Anyway, I'd love to be able to get a nice car with cloth seats instead of leather. I'm not an animal rights fanatic, but if I have options I'll go the 'no animal used' route.

tetra7

A really nice synthetic material would be nice esp after I finish working out, running or being outdoors.

Leater is a nice "neat-o" factor, but it seems to be such a high maintenance material

Davtown

My ES300 has cloth... did I get it to appease PETA? no... f* PETA!

-J-P-L-

I don't even know why this is a debate. As others have said, the cows are not killed for their skins only but more importantly for food. Even if the world stopped making leather products all together the same amount of cows would still be killed for meat. And then it would just become wasteful to throw the skins away. This makes absolutely no sense.

SCHEME

I wouldn't give a damn about an animal rights group. A luxury car has to have leather if it's LUXURY. How many active animal rights groups members buy MBs anyway?