Tesla shareholders ask Musk to make its cars go vegan

Tesla Motors Inc's Model S sedan already ditched petrol. Now two shareholders from Texas want the electric-car maker to stop using animal products as well.

At the company's annual meeting on Tuesday, Mark and Elizabeth Peters, shareholders from Hurst, Texas, urged Tesla to eliminate the use of animal-sourced materials for interior components such as leather seats. One of their proposals would reduce the use of such products, dropping them by 2019. The other asked Tesla to explore becoming the first "cruelty-free" premium car brand. Stockholders rejected both, according to a filing on Wednesday.

"Tesla does offer a vegan option to customers who express that this is a priority for them," Khobi Brooklyn, a company spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. "If they want no leather in their car, the customer would choose the Multi-Pattern black seats which have a synthetic leather trim and then custom-order a vegan steering wheel."

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Elizabeth Peters said her husband, Mark, had to go through "extreme measures" to get her a vegan Tesla as an anniversary gift.

"Tesla can continue to fill cars with the skins of sentient beings that suffer unspeakable horror," said Peters, who said she grew up on a veal farm. "Or, Tesla can adopt one of the many faux-leather interiors used by Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, BMW, Infiniti and others, that are cruelty-free."

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/world-business/tesla-shareholders-ask-musk-to-make-its-cars-go-vegan-20150611-ghlaz3.html


If they don't want leather in their car, customers can choose multi-pattern black seats with a synthetic leather trim and custom-order a vegan steering wheel. Photo: Mark Bean