Earlier this year, Toyota launched the all-new Prius. The new model is a massive improvement from its predecessor as it comes with better fuel economy, new technologies and a fresh design.
On the downside of things, Toyota failed to produce the Prius with premium materials. To be specific, the Prius has yet to come with leather seats. The top of the line model comes with Softex seat wraps instead.
When enquired, Toyota explained that Softex is synthetic leather seat material that is better than real leather due to their easy cleaning and resisting spills characteristics. Furthermore, Softex is about 50% lighter than real leather. For the Prius, this is definitely helpful as a lighter body means better fuel mileage. Furthermore, Softex generates 85% less CO2 in production than leather.
True to its description, we did some cleaning test with Softex seats and it is much easier to remove dusts and stains than conventional leather. Also, the exclusive material has a softer feel. The fact that Softex is developed with being environment in mind makes it perfect for the Toyota Prius.
Toyota then concluded their explanation by saying that Softex is not made from any animal-based materials. As suspected, being free of animal-based products is part of saving the environment in Toyota’s books. Also, it is safe to assume that future Prius will never adopt authentic leather for their seats.
