BRIDGE OF WEIR LEATHER AND FISKER AUTOMOTIVE BRING LOW CARBON LEATHER AND SUSTAINABLE LUXURY TOGETHER IN A FORMIDABLE PACKAGE
- World’s first luxury, range-extended Fisker electric cars choose sustainable low carbon leather from Scotland’s Bridge of Weir Leather Company
- World’s first leather thermal energy plant, converting waste to energy at Bridge of Weir to supply global auto industry, further reducing carbon footprint
- From ground-breaking Model T Ford to game-changing Fisker Karma – Bridge of Weir continues tradition of innovative leather solutions for revolutionary cars
Bridge of Weir, Scotland, 15 November 2011 – Two companies with a passion for sustainable luxury have come together to present the very pinnacle of premium low-carbon auto interiors – Scotland’s Bridge of Weir Leather Company and California’s Fisker Automotive.
Bridge of Weir is extremely proud to be leather supplier of choice to the all-new Fisker premium electric range of cars. Henrik Fisker, Fisker Automotive co-founder, CEO and executive design director, says: “Bridge of Weir produce the finest leather I have seen in a car, and now that they can do this with zero waste, their low-carbon leather just had to feature in Fisker cars.”
Jonathan Muirhead, chairman of the Scottish Leather Group, added: “This company is founded upon innovation and making great steps forward. My great grandfather saw it in 1910 with the Model T Ford, and several generations since have continued this tradition inside and outside the automotive industry. I think this latest step, with the game-changing Fisker range, is up there with the Model T in terms of great leaps forward. We are extremely proud to have been chosen to be a part of the journey.”
Bridge of Weir’s locally sourced leather will make up the bulk of the interior material on the Fisker Karma EcoStandard™ and EcoSport™, with seats, steering, dash, door-casings and centre-console trim wrapped in low carbon leather.
The four-door Karma coupe can accelerate from 0-60mph in just 5.9 seconds; yet can also achieve the equivalent of more than 100 miles per gallon and 83 g/km CO2 emissions in real world driving on an annual basis, and is now on sale across Europe priced from around €85,500. Bridge of Weir will also go on to supply low-carbon leather to the full Fisker range, including the recently announced ‘Surf’ model.
Fisker is the only premium manufacturer in the world to produce true electric vehicles with extended range (EVer™). These vehicles can effectively charge themselves from an on-board petrol power generator, banishing the ‘range anxiety’ usually associated with electric cars.
Combining striking, elegant design with high performance, ultra-low fuel consumption and zero emissions on demand, Fisker is committed to creating the pure driving passion available only from the brand’s uniquely styled, environmentally conscious line-up. The addition of Bridge of Weir as a supplier serves to reinforce the brand’s attention to detail when it comes to sustainability.
With a production process supported by Bridge of Weir’s innovative new thermal energy plant in Scotland, Fisker vehicles can boast that even the interior leather is low carbon and manufactured with zero waste.
Opened in 2010, the thermal energy plant is the only one of its kind in the world leather industry, and takes what was previously waste sent straight to landfill and converts it directly to energy for heating the huge volumes of recycled water required in the manufacturing process.
The process starts with hides weighing approximately 40kg and finishes with a leather product that weighs just 10% of the original hide. From the remaining 90%, both oil and solid waste is extracted.
The oil is used as a bio-fuel, and the solid waste is converted into steam, supplying the factory with the heat for two hundred million litres of water per year (recycled from the plant’s very own loch) – reducing the dependency on fossil fuels and creating low-carbon leather that does not cost the Earth.
With a proud history of supplying the global automotive industry with its fine leathers, Bridge of Weir has been at the forefront of luxury interior innovation since the company was approached by Henry Ford in 1910, to provide leather for the Model T. Since then the company has continued to work alongside the likes of Aston Martin, Ford, Fisker, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercedes AMG, SAAB, Volvo – as well as on several special concept car projects.
Established in 1905 at Bridge of Weir just outside Glasgow, Scotland, and a subsidiary of the Scottish Leather Group, the company now boasts Europe’s most advanced leather production facilities, and since the opening of its all-new thermal energy plant in 2010, the ‘greenest’ as well.
An inherently sustainable material (put simply, a by-product of beef), leather is taken to a new low carbon level with Bridge of Weir’s innovative product – which is now exported to over 30 countries around the world.
Its appeal in the 21st Century extends beyond that of the automotive industry, with Bridge of Weir leather to be found in luxury yachts, private aircraft, some of the world’s finest restaurants and hotels, and on the exquisite Vertu mobile handsets from Nokia.
