Tesla's New Vegan Interior Is Laughably Expensive

A few years back, Elon Musk said (you know how this goes) that Tesla was going to stop using animal leather in all its cars, opting instead for a hypothetically more sustainable alternative. Soon after, consumers complained of poor quality from the synthetic material, and Tesla hasn't done much about its interior choices since. To this day, options are rather limited, with consumers basically left to pick basic colors and not much else.

But, if you've got the cash, and a lot of it, you can have someone else do up your Tesla's interior in materials decidedly more guilt-free. Sort of, seeing as the leather in your Tesla Model S Plaid has already come off its corporeal cow host. the program costs $30,000 and comes to us courtesy of the wife of Tesla's current head of design, Franz von Holzhausen.

Clearly, the von Holzhausens have figured out how to cash in. Vicki von Holzhausen has partnered with renowned Tesla tuners Unplugged Performance for the interior offering. UP does a lot with going fast in Teslas and is currently fielding a car in this year's Pikes Peak Hill Climb. Any Tesla vehicle currently in production can have the work done, so long as the owner can swallow that extremely hefty price tag.

According to the company, this vegan "leather" is actually made from bamboo, hence its name, Banbu Leather. It should be mostly sustainable, without getting into the weeds too much in regard to supply chains, et cetera. Bamboo is a highly renewable wood and is one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet.

The new option is also available on newly-ordered vehicles, meaning you buy the car right from Unplugged Performance, and then they'll ship it right to you. Think of it as the most expensive Tesla option to date - at least until Musk hikes the price of FSD again with new tech.

Of course, existing owners can also simply send off their vehicle to have the leather changed out, as we mentioned briefly above. That entails a trip for your T-car out to Hawthorn, California for the work to be done. Regardless, once your Tesla is at Unplugged Performance, you can choose your colors, stitching pattern, perforations, and thread color. You'll also get a neat plaque on the center console lid.

According to UP, the process take over 100 hours of work, taking full advantage of the tuning company's massive facilities. Still, $30K is a hilarious amount of cash for a new interior, vegan or not.