How Volkswagen “debacle” can help the leather industry
25/09/2015
Dr Sprenger, a former Mercedes engineer, is now senior director for the European business of US-based automotive market research firm JD Power.
Speaking at Stahl’s event to launch the new centre of excellence for automotive at its headquarters in Waalwijk, Dr Sprenger said that if manufacturers of synthetic materials continue to improve in their efforts to imitate leather and tanners continue to supply their automotive customers with finished leathers that are more and more difficult to distinguish from cheaper synthetic substitutes, it is likely automotive companies and consumers will question the need to have leather in car interiors at all.
Examining the question in more depth with World Leather afterwards, Axel Sprenger explained: “What makes sense for the leather industry is to move away from this trend to make leather look and feel more and more like polyurethane or vinyl. Tanners have to make their leathers look more natural, more like leather.”
He warned that it could take a substantial amount of time for wider consumer tastes to adjust to more natural leathers, with defects and all, in their car interiors but said something similar had happened also with the wood some automotive companies use in dashboards and other parts of the interior. “It’s even possible the Volkswagen debacle of recent days [over a scandal involving deception over emissions results] could help. Companies are going to have to become more transparent and offer greater authenticity,” he added.
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