Automotive manufacturer Volkswagen (VW) is improving its sustainability by investing in environment-friendly manufacturing methods by opting for an alternative textile – called LOVR, which stands for leather-free, oil-free, vegan and residue-based – for interior textiles in the company’s vehicles.

VW – with its ACCELERATE strategy for establishing sustainable production processes – recently partnered with alternative material manufacturing company Revoltech to develop a hemp-based, innovative surface material, which will be incorporated in Volkswagen’s interior manufacturing processes.

“The sustainable use of resources is a key pillar in our ACCELERATE strategy and is therefore firmly anchored in our mindset and actions. Our goal is to fuse customer wishes, sustainability requirements and corporate interests,” says VW strategy head Andreas Walingen.

“The cooperation between Revoltech and Volkswagen is a good example of the benefits gained from the targeted collaboration between startup and established brands – to get new features ready for use in automobiles as swiftly as possible,” he adds.

The material is a 100% bio-based material that is sourced from the regional hemp industry.

LOVR is a single-layer surface material made from industrial hemp that is targeted at being applicable to the automotive industry, despite originally being developed for the food industry.

The hemp fibres are combined with a fully bio-based adhesive, and then processed to create a surface material – which is fully recyclable and/or compostable and can be applied in any large-scale industrial and automotive manufacturing plants.

“In our search for new materials, we are very open to new ideas from many different industries. At technical development, we place a strong focus on innovative, creative and sustainable solutions for holistic, resource-saving vehicle development,” says VW technical development brand board member Kai Grünitz.

After receiving positive customer feedback from surveys, VW and Revoltech predict that the LOVR material could potentially be used in vehicles from 2028.