►Shop for merchandise: autogefuehl.shop/ ►Subscribe here: ru-vid.com ►Also subscribe to our RU-vid shorts channel: www.youtube.com/@thomasautogefuhl?sub_confirmation=1 ►Follow us on Facebook / Instagram / TikTok @autogefuehl ►Sustainability in the automotive industry documentary: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--8gNXlRGngA.htmlsi=bCdeJZORRHNcVmV2 This is our in-depth review of the all-new BMW X3 inlcuding the BMW X3 M50. We're taking a look at Exterior, Interior and technology. 00:00 all-new BMW X3 base 01:55 X3 M50 in Dune Grey 05:08 Arctic Blue PHEV 05:49 Recharging and battery 07:36 Suspension choices 08:41 Interior base 10:06 Steering wheel and seats 13:30 Cockpit 15:15 M50 or M Sport interior 17:48 Ambient lighting 19:19 X3 vs X1 20:04 Rear seats 21:52 Trunk / boot 23:55 Engines 27:00 Pricing 28:16 Where is the X3 built 28:55 Towing #BMW #bmwx3
USA and South African built! No thank you - built outside of Germany is not a BMW... and South Africa lol, really... just wow! No way I'm buying this plastic cheap tacky money grab... BMW is dropping the quality.... we want classy, soft touch refined interiors, look at Lexus, they are holding their build, design, and material quality strong.
Absolutely. BMW needs a new head of design that is brave enough to ditch the kidney grill. BMW has its own logo and emblem. Designers can and must use that as the symbol of BMW not that ugly grill.
the skytop concept car showed that they can produce beautiful cars but something gets lost in translation in production. let's hope it's a sign of what's to come and they're going to phase out the current controversial design language. wouldn't hold my breath though.
This is so frumpy and just odd. No style, no classic teutonic look not even futuristic and forward leaning like the Bangle era. You know things are bad when you long for Bangles designs. Looking at it from the rear 3/4 it's just shockingly inept design. Also the complete deletion of anything resembling a rear bumper means a full tailgate replacement if anything bigger than a shopping cart bumps you in the rear. BMW has completely lost the plot.
@@pete64041 Imagine you live in a household with a Wife. Now Wife wants SUV and she gives a damn how the car looks like, she wants an SUV from a big German Brand, because Image so and so what etc. And as a Husband and father you don't want to destroy or egoistically hinder the happiness of your marriage (Because there is the danger of alimony etc) Therefore you do what your wife tells you to do. I have seen this behaviour alot when I asked People around the Internet, why they have chosen a certain car, even though they were interested in another. Another Reason: USA
we don't know the counterfactual. If the design wasn't ass they might have sold 2-3x as much. Hyundai tucson sales doubled after they introduced the current generation. Before that it was still getting average sales for the category.
Bruh 😂😂You been living under a rock the past decade? Every new car interior especially EV models have ambient lighting like this. Jesus Christ, this is nothing new. The Mercedes EQS has a 1 inch wide light band running around the entire dash into the side door panels and even the footwells front and rear 😂.
Does anybody know how long BMW will keep or replace Domagoj Dukec, their current head designer? Because ever since he became the head of design back in 2019 he’s done nothing but ruin bmw 😑
Except his designs grew their sales more than ever before. It would be the stupidest move ever firing him. And this X3 is a lot better than the other recent ones, the grille is separated, it's doesn't look like a Kia (as the new 1 series), it doesn't have split taillights, it doesn't have the bad grille headlight proportion of the 5 series, it doesn't have the overcrowded bumper of the 5 series and so on. This is quite similar to the X1 and will definitely grow on people, like the X1 did.
@@mihnealazar7039 "It doesn't look like a Kia" Really? That is an achievement now? Hey, how about making BMW look like a pile of s...t? Then it will not look like any other car at all!
@@user-hz3eu5in it's not an achievement, but it's a step in the right direction. I simply stated a reality. This BMW looks like a BMW, not like a Kia or other cars, which was a problem for some cars like the new 1 Series. It also has a separated grille, which is something people have been requesting for a while and they delivered. This X3 may look like shit to you now, but in 2 years you probably won't be saying that. When the new X1 launched it was full of people like you in the comments. Now it's one of the best selling (if not the best selling) premium C-SUV in the world and I see very few people criticise it.
I’m with you. I have a 2023 x3 and it looks so much better. Models from 2021-2024 look great. This new 2025 doesn’t look premium or elegant at all. Too much LED like lights inside. Not a luxury vehicle, inside and out. I was thinking of getting another one for my daughter, but not the 2025 model. I may go with Porsche or even Honda, no more BMW until they get a better design team.
Yeah they're runing their own cars all the way to the number 1 spot of Premium Auto Manufacturer in the world for several years running. What a way to ruin your brand when you're selling more cars than you ever have in the history of your company. RUUIINNED !!!
@@blackpanda7612 yeah, we will see. The top sellers of 2023 are all more classic designs like X1, X3, X5, old 1er, 2er, 3er, old 5er. They are replacing all those models now with strange designs and bad quality. Sure, every new model gets some hate, but check the comments under thevideos of the previous X3 release - nowhere near the hate this model receives or that ugly Xi. But yeah, many people (especially women) don't care as much about quality or features as long as the brand name is the right one and the car looks "nice".
They’ve sold a lot of x3, so they probably thought that people are getting blind and dumb and will continue to buy no matter how cheap, bland, and ugly it gets. I’m a BMW fan, and have a 2023 x3, but no more.
Do you really think it is "Design Team" that draws something and says - "Alright this is what we are going to make" :D There were probably quite many quite different projects, at the end of the day it is the Board that selects and orders development.
Why would they fire them? They make designs that sell better and better. It would be the stupidest move ever. And they are very good, if you see some of their press sketches their work is top notch
Yet BMW continues to break it's own sales records. Last year the M division posted its highest sales numbers ever for the company. Yet all I see are armchair warriors on RU-vid complain M cars are ugly 😂😂😂. Well I'm sure ya'll ain't buying them so please continue moaning. It's great entertainment 😂
Still 15k EUR cheaper in full option than a Merc GLC 43 and you get a 6L for it with lower CO2 emision and better fuel economy than the Merc's 4 cyl. Where I live registration tax for the X3 M50 is also 7k EUR less than for the Merc. So, still a no brainer imo. I'll gladly take cost cutting on the interior over downsizing of the engine.
@@RayanMADAO They are cutting costs like never before. Expect to see it in the production car... Even Chinese cars are today more posh then German "premium" brands.
Can someone explain to me how manufacturing fake leather from scratch is better for the environment than using animal hide? We don’t farm animals just for their hide. 🤪 We farm them for produce and their hide is a byproduct, it’s the ultimate form of recycling. I’m actually sick of hearing the “better for environment” argument because it’s objectively untrue.
Thank you very much for your interest in this topic. I also bought cars with animal skin leather seats before I did my research and got to know the industry. The most important thing is: With today's modern materials, you have nothing to lose, just to gain. You achieve the same kind of luxury and comfort or even better while having the same or better durability with less impact on humans, animals and the environment. You can use fabric/cloth, microfibre or leatherette. The classic approach is using oil/plastic as source material. Overall, a vehicle contains about 300 kg plastic. A car seat needs about 5 kg plastic. So the overall plastic share for the seats is very low and it is at this moment the most efficient way to produce a car seat. A couple of litres of fuel equals a car seat basically. So if you want to save oil/plastic, rather look at consumption for energy, fuel and heating and to other car parts than the seat. Note that animal skin leather also always contains a plastic coating for durability. However, long-term we should of course find raw oil alternatives. So going further, seats can be made from recyclables (e.g. from PET-bottles or old fishing nets) or even increased share of plant-based materials (like pine oil, canola oil or start-up materials like Pinatex from pineapple leaves or Desertex from cactus fibre or the mixed-plant-based Mirum, so be seen at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S1aNZeoatmE.html). On a calculation base, by ditching animal skin leather from car interiors, the amount of emissions (CO2e) is reduced by 85 (!) % (www.press.bmwgroup.com/africa-dom-easteurope/article/detail/T0403389EN/on-the-market-from-2023:-bmw-and-mini-models-with-vegan-interiors?language=en) - and that is a very conservative calculation. So it is at this moment the most important thing you can do to make car interiors more sustainable. A good example for high-end luxury with ventilated animal free seats is the BMW X7 with Sensafin: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1pRNkW9nrrw.html And the Kia EV9 with plant-based oil share: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6vXePQi_MAk.html New leatherette materials can be superior in every aspect, even for cleaning: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u94YXJ72UTA.html More and more natural materials are rising: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nRSsXEnwHDo.html Also check out what the animal skin leather industry tried to with our channel: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nP_CvLlaFlI.html For seeing how the animals are being treated and transported in the global leather industry, watch this footage: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tkjCAmq1_8E.html Note that the footage is genuine and was recorded by a highly decorated investigative journalist in Germany I know myself personally. Also a group of researchers and German journalists from public media could recent directly trace the connection between car animal leather production and illegal burning down Amazon rain forest: www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/ard-story/videos/illegales-leder-video-100.html In a high animal skin grade, the animals are specifically raised for this matter. However even if meat is the "first" misuse case, the hide remains a profitable body part. That means: If manufacturers put animal leather in a car and you demand it as a customer, you give your money to an industry that earns money by oppressing humans, animals and harms the environment, you make them more profitable. Alternatively, you could support industries with your wallet which try to improve the sustainability of materials. Also, if you turn the argument around to "meat is the waste of the leather industry" you realize that it doesn't make sense (and is ethically doubtful) to discuss the primary use of individual body parts of mammals. Mind experiment: You are getting slain down on the street; would it matter to you if it was for your smartphone or for your purse? Remember that animal skin leather is no different to fur, fur is just leather where the hair is still on. And fur is widely not accepted for clothing anymore, and of course not for cars. We cannot change what we have bought in the past, but with more information and compassion we can change how we decide in the future. For a great insight into sustainability in the automotive industry, you can also check out our extensive documentary: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--8gNXlRGngA.html
@@autogefuehl The problem is: who does/do fund all those research? You can find articles proving coffee is a carcinogen whilst at the same time the other one(s) proving coffee is the ultimate cancer-prevention thing. You never know
@@autogefuehl Try do your research again! They don´t care about anything but MONEY! Fake "leather" is cheaper and easier to make then real leather! That´s all! There is nothing wrong say it´s cheaper and vegan friendly. 😉 But don´t make fool of us with all those saving world s***! Everyone with class always can tell difference between real and fake leather it never feels the same! Just like real fur and faux fur! Fur is and always will be accepted for clothing! Have you ever been in real high class party in winter? 😂
@@autogefuehl I see what you are saying, but the animals are killed anyway for the meat, so what happens with those skins ? I'm not being negative, just trying to ask a genuine question... (P.S. : I am a vegetarian and got animal free seats in my car).
Fire the designers responsible for putting you as the number 1 premium car manufacturer in the world for several years running? 😂😂 So happy these companies are in the hands of sane people and not people like you.
@@ferdl7940 Buy something else then. Vote with your wallet. The complaints here on RU-vid and even BMW forums won't sway them to change their product pipelines. People have been saying "Fire the designers" for the last decade and every year the company just continues to sell more and more cars so clearly the designers are doing something right. Its almost become routine at this point. New BMW unveiling !!! ** Head over to comments section ** ** Cue everyone crying & moaning about the designers/company ** Rinse & Repeat
G30 owner here. I like my car more everytime they do a new design. No comparison even with the ambient lights - there seemed to be none found in the rear doors. I was looking the new 5 the other day, and it didn't do it for me. Maybe I'll buy one of the last LCI G30's when it's time to upgrade.
If I were a BMW shareholder I’d be psyched because their profit margins on this must be insane with how much cost cutting was done on the interior. Nothing about the interior says sport luxury.
Its literally mentioned several times in this video that this is a pre-production model and the interior materials will change for the final production model 😂😂😂😂😂😂
I have the previous version of X3 (2022, LCI). And I love that car every day, because it is causy, comfortable, powerful, has normal interior(buttons for most of important functions). This generation follows the same, non-user, cost-savings approach, like previous X1 - pay more for less. Unfortunately, this car looks cheap and plastic-wise. Definitely not a premium car anymore. Btw, the "simplified" exterior design with less edges is also indication of cost savings - as it requires less robot operations to bend the elements. Typical example Citroen C-Elysse.
my grandma bought recently the 2024 X3, and i told her she would regret it because new generation of X3 is coming with "beautiful" interior and exterior, now i would've regret if she bought the new one....
Perhaps Autogefül can make a video on how design processes work in BMW. Im quite baffled how a bunch of people on the board can sit around a table and approve all these designs coming out of BMW lately. Do they really think these latest designs from IX to XM and the 7 series and etc are beautiful? Or they re just arrogantly stubborn thinking that people would still buy them blindly no matter what just because of the brand name? From what I see across the board majority of people think BMWs are quite ugly on the outside and inside lately.
The people on the board know what they're doing. You don't suck at your job if your company continues to break sales records and retain the number 1 spot as Premium Car Manufacturer in the world for several years running. You don't suck at your job if the M Division posts records sales for 2023 in their division history. However you do suck if you take the opinions of a handful of enthusiasts that are unable to embrace change and pass it off as the majority consensus. Moral of the story is don't suck by trying to take the opinions of a few and pass it off as opinions of the many.
@@blackpanda7612 getting rid of nice interior materials and replacing them with cheap nasty plastic interior is not progress. eliminating features like opening sunroof is not progress. or maybe it's progress if you are chasing to emulate cheap rental car interiors.
A golf from 2014 has a way better interior than this. The “screen screen screen” fad is maybe not the best. It’s great for customizing it but it’s really for cutting costs. I hope we get back the interior quality of cars from 2012-2017
It looks very dark here but if you go see some photos in better lighting it's actually nice and looks more premium than the last gen, even if the materials may not be.
There's still time to buy the current (and most beautiful) generation x3...this new one looks like it was designed by several designers all with conflicting personalities.
What happened to the luxury in BMW’s interiors. There used to be wood/carbon fibre paneling, high-grade leather, ceramic control knobs and iDrive wheel. This has a fabric dashboard, hard plastic door panels. They tacked a big screen panel on the dashboard and removed everything that made a BMW interior luxurious. This interior has the quality of a Kia!
@@wsciekyprosiak7993 kias don't drive anything like a bmw. They are loud inside as well. There is nothing wrong with kia, but they aren't competing with bmw.
What a time to be alive. Cheap plastic everywhere but hey, now BMW gives us cheap LEDs everywhere and one screen that looks like two Ipads dropped into the dash. The reviewer raves about ambient animations and talks about engines shortly and only at the end of the video. Run, everyone!
Completely agree. It started with the ghastly 4 series, then the 2, the 7... now its across the range. They all look they've been designed by a pair of 3 year olds who never speak; using Duplo as their inspiration
A premium interior should be filled with 3 kinds of material: metal, wood, and leather (at least fake leather if we really need to talk about the environment). Sad to see the base x3 has none of them but some cheap $5 light strips.
Noooo, this was at the top of my list to replace my '16 GLC... Hate the exterior, hate the interior,no opening sunroof?!? No protective wheel arcs , tons of piano black, and capacitive bs. WTF BMW?
Thank god they brought back the scrolling wheel. After owning different vehicles i find the BMW navigation wheel the easiest and least distracting to use.
@@drunkenwhiskeyeu Best car for the $$$! I literally last filled up on May 6th, and I’m crushing with half a tank lol If you daily commute less than 50 miles, you’re Golden! (Also, the torque is amazing) I’m coming out of a 2021 M550i 530hp and 550lb/ft of torque… And I cannot feel the difference in torque! You will love it
Super happy I'm about to pick up a '25 x5 50e. Best of classic design styling and modern technology. I plan to own it for a long time. Hopefully in 10+ years, BMW will learn their errors correct course on their design
@@opticzar I'm Glad there's another brother from a different mother. :-D My thoughts exactly, though I'm going to get a dealership car. It's around 1/3 of the price off.
Your videos have been on fire lately. Amazing amount of content. As, an owner of a 2024 X3 M40i I think the new model is almost too clean and slick. It gives me those weird Mercedes EQ vibes. The interior is a mess of gaudy lighting and IKEA inspired textures. I’m not sure ANYTHING has improved with the new design that would compel me to buy one.
Thank goodness there is still an iDrive controller, I was really thinking that they were phasing them out completely out of every new model for cost cutting measures
Data & facts: BMW X3 (all-new 2025) Factories in Spartanburg USA and South Africa (PHEV) Better aerodynamics cd 0,27 More sustainability in production and supply chain Shown colors: Dune grey (M50) Arctic Race Blue (30e PHEV) Optional illuminated kidney Adaptive Matrix LED optional Wider track 4,76 m 187“ (+ 3 cm 1“) 18-21“ wheels (19“ M Sport, 20“ M50) Only M50 has visible exhaust pipes + sport suspension standard Adaptive suspension or adaptive M suspension optional 12,3“ instruments 15“ (14,9“) infotainment Optional HUD Econeer seating 100 % recycling standard Optional Veganza high grade leatherette in 3 colors Optional still animal skin available M Sport: Veganza/Alcantara Mix Vegan steering wheel standard, M Sport steering animal 570 l trunk (+20 l) - 1700 l PHEV: 460 l - 1600 l Petrol (all MHEV) 20 xDrive 2,0 4-cylinder 210 hp 7,8 s M Performance M50 xDrive 3,0 6-cylinder 400 hp 4,6 s PHEV 30e xDrive 2,0 4-cylinder 300 hp 6,2 s Double battery size now 20,4 kWh net, 11 kW AC charging PHEV not in US Diesel (all MHEV) 20 xDrive 2,0 4-cylinder 200 hp 7,7 s later: 3,0 l 6-cyl diesel Price 58.000 20 xDrive - 66.000 PHEV - 83.000 M50 (without extras), around 90.000 M50 full spec Towing 2,0 t PHEV 2,5 t ICE Transparency note: Autogefühl videos are independent and free from editorial influence on opinion and rating. But since manufacturers enable us to do the reviews in the first place, for legal reasons this video is marked as _advertisement_.
Apparently they have not heard everybody complaining about the massive grills. The interior is becoming more like a cheap car, all the luxury is gone! They just want to mask it with those fancy lights. I understand the going green part, but fabric seats in a €60k car? I’m not sure my next car will be a BMW 😢
Tesla doesn’t have any knobs, just one gigantic screen and bland. Trying to drive and jumping through screens to change/adjust something. Talk about driving experience.
Honestly, the exterior design doesn’t look that bad in the sport variant. I just wish they incorporated more detail into the interior which is a shame. Paying for a luxury vehicle like this and getting basically a piece of technology sort of ruins the driving experience.
So, a 2023 M40i was ~$69k USD well optioned. The 2025 M50 is $85k USD + ? Wow. Edited: Learned something new ... converting BMW € MSRP to USD for comparable pricing doesn't work. Cars are significantly more expensive in Europe (and possibly other regions too)!
Don’t want to live in a Tron movie. I want prestige, durability, reliability and quality. I will be taking delivery of G01 X3 3.0d soon . Glad and relieved I didn’t wait.
German automakers wonder why they keep loosing the market share to Asians. Well, it used to be that everybody was trying to copy BMW/Mercedes/Audi. Now German cars look like a copy of KIA, Hyundai, Toyota and etc. For a user it is obvious, there is no point to overpay which means Asian market will grow even more.
The only thing I appreciate is that it doesn’t have too much shinny black plastic inside, the rest is pretty meh, stealing your eyes with shinny lights so you don’t see the cost cuttings
I have the current model and looks a lot better. How do you compare to X5? I haven’t upgraded to X5 as the rear space is only marginally bigger (millimetres) so felt not worthwhile. Interesting the BMW sales person was saying they have that comment a lot from customers
Agree. I have a 2023 x3 and it looks way better, outside and inside. Beautiful dashboard and logical layout and just enough ambient lighting. The new 2025 is more for kids.
Good Lord... what did they do to this beautiful model design??? Shinny beaver in front and colorful pinata / gypsy palace inside. I was sure they wouldn't dare to spoil their best selling model. I was wrong. And I am so happy buying mine in 2023. Completely different sporty sharp design back then.
Was looking to get an X3 before the winter, and after seeing these new ones and that you could no longer spec out a 2024 I rushed to the dealer as fast as I could and snagged one of the remaining 2024 M40i models before those beautiful cars are entirely replaced with... whatever this thing is...
First BMW in years where I've liked the design. They have really messed up the design on their other models. This one though is actually really beautiful. Prefer the standard version (the blue one on the left). Very possible I'll buy this one when changing next year, buy only if I can order without that horrible space ship interior and the piano-black details which is of course very prone to fingerprints. Would much have preferred an interior with classy brushed aluminium details, matt materials and without those extreme light effects.
I definitely won’t be witching from my current x3 to this one as I did in the past. I hate the idea of no physical controls of AC. You can’t use your smartphone when driving but still the manufacturers are removing as many physical controls as possible
The interior is nice something my 5 year old would love with those candy color trimms and cheap plastic rear vents... i gues thats the targeted custommer 😂
Reduce the size of the grille and remove the tacky lighting feature, and I think the exterior is fine. Not good, or special, but fine. That interior is crap though.
Idk it’s how I feel. BMW snobs always prefer the past look. But in person the new 7 series looks great. Designs change. Time to move on. And for bmw with their usually ultra conservative design cues imo the change couldn’t come fast enough. The ppl bitching are not going to buy an x3 either way
I love it! It has a planted stance and no cladding on the m50 looks awesome 👏 and they kept the halo style sword inspired tail lights. It’s missing an actual rear bumper though to protect itself from possible bumps…
Front led day lights are from Cherry Tiggo, good direction BMW👏🏻👏🏻 only good thing is keeping idrive system and cupholder area. Apart from that no thanks, I’ll go with my current X3 !
@@John.Christopher The door card from the front to back isn't even the same material in the Tiguan hard plastic in the back. Furthermore even the paint colour you can see inside the A pillar. Don't be so silly to think a car from the class below would be better.
Great review, as always, Thomas. If only I could be as positive about the new X3. The current generation is a lovely car and their best looking SUV. No longer. All these sparkles and unnecessary features; yet styling that only a mother - and BMW design - could love.
I will offer a comment to counter the “hatewave” a bit, because I kinda like the blue one (standart non M I think??). It looks good, also different, so will be easily noticed. Probably the first X3 I would consider buying
If you don't pick the lighted grill, it's more than fine. The interior looks beautiful. Only the back of the car looks like it's missing something, but overall, not that bad. Especially compared to the 1 series.
The side profile and rear are nice in my opinion, but the front is a miss. Interior and instrument panel look good, but the ambient lights are way too thick and dominant. Mixed feelings about this design. Lets hope it will grow on me.
Is it just me? but I quite like the design. It doesn’t have the BMW DNA as in the previous generations I agree but it’s more modernised and more simplified as the company wants their new cars to be.
You’ve got to love this comment section. Haters galore 😅 Personally, i’ve owned BMW’s (5 series) since the mid 90’s and in general i still lovewhat BMW is doing
Great review, but unfortunately such an ugly, cheap looking vehicle. BMW has just gone way down with all their updated designs. Wouldn’t hesitate to go for the older X3, 5, 7 series… would be cheaper too. Awful looking car.
It's not a bad design at all,it's pretty bad to judge something new based on stubborn mind that is difficult to transit with time n change cos very soon a lot of people will be praising these designs. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 Well done BMW for coming up with something different.
lol at all the complaints. It’s always the same cycle of “I hate it! BMW needs new designers” to “It’s growing on me” to “I think it looks pretty good.” 😂 The only thing giving me pause is that D pillar. Just looks odd in profile. Great tour as always, Thomas!
Listen and repeat: Synthetic leather and fabrics are no good for the environment. They are based in OIL and require several industrial and chemical processes and lots of energy to be made.
Thank you very much for your interest in this topic. I also bought cars with animal skin leather seats before I did my research and got to know the industry. The most important thing is: With today's modern materials, you have nothing to lose, just to gain. You achieve the same kind of luxury and comfort or even better while having the same or better durability with less impact on humans, animals and the environment. You can use fabric/cloth, microfibre or leatherette. The classic approach is using oil/plastic as source material. Overall, a vehicle contains about 300 kg plastic. A car seat needs about 5 kg plastic. So the overall plastic share for the seats is very low and it is at this moment the most efficient way to produce a car seat. A couple of litres of fuel equals a car seat basically. So if you want to save oil/plastic, rather look at consumption for energy, fuel and heating and to other car parts than the seat. Note that animal skin leather also always contains a plastic coating for durability. However, long-term we should of course find raw oil alternatives. So going further, seats can be made from recyclables (e.g. from PET-bottles or old fishing nets) or even increased share of plant-based materials (like pine oil, canola oil or start-up materials like Pinatex from pineapple leaves or Desertex from cactus fibre or the mixed-plant-based Mirum, so be seen at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S1aNZeoatmE.html). On a calculation base, by ditching animal skin leather from car interiors, the amount of emissions (CO2e) is reduced by 85 (!) % (www.press.bmwgroup.com/africa-dom-easteurope/article/detail/T0403389EN/on-the-market-from-2023:-bmw-and-mini-models-with-vegan-interiors?language=en) - and that is a very conservative calculation. So it is at this moment the most important thing you can do to make car interiors more sustainable. A good example for high-end luxury with ventilated animal free seats is the BMW X7 with Sensafin: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1pRNkW9nrrw.html And the Kia EV9 with plant-based oil share: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6vXePQi_MAk.html New leatherette materials can be superior in every aspect, even for cleaning: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u94YXJ72UTA.html More and more natural materials are rising: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nRSsXEnwHDo.html Also check out what the animal skin leather industry tried to with our channel: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nP_CvLlaFlI.html For seeing how the animals are being treated and transported in the global leather industry, watch this footage: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tkjCAmq1_8E.html Note that the footage is genuine and was recorded by a highly decorated investigative journalist in Germany I know myself personally. Also a group of researchers and German journalists from public media could recent directly trace the connection between car animal leather production and illegal burning down Amazon rain forest: www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/ard-story/videos/illegales-leder-video-100.html In a high animal skin grade, the animals are specifically raised for this matter. However even if meat is the "first" misuse case, the hide remains a profitable body part. That means: If manufacturers put animal leather in a car and you demand it as a customer, you give your money to an industry that earns money by oppressing humans, animals and harms the environment, you make them more profitable. Alternatively, you could support industries with your wallet which try to improve the sustainability of materials. Also, if you turn the argument around to "meat is the waste of the leather industry" you realize that it doesn't make sense (and is ethically doubtful) to discuss the primary use of individual body parts of mammals. Mind experiment: You are getting slain down on the street; would it matter to you if it was for your smartphone or for your purse? Remember that animal skin leather is no different to fur, fur is just leather where the hair is still on. And fur is widely not accepted for clothing anymore, and of course not for cars. We cannot change what we have bought in the past, but with more information and compassion we can change how we decide in the future. For a great insight into sustainability in the automotive industry, you can also check out our extensive documentary: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--8gNXlRGngA.html
