Jan. 16, 2008 Forget that new-car smell: Luxury car brands are exploring the aesthetic and environmental selling points of auto interiors made from plant fibers, Reuters reports. Carmakers including BMW, Audi, and Citroen are luring luxury buyers with a feel-good driving experience that includes bamboo in seats, hemp in door linings, and kenaf fibers in dashboards.

"What is going to be key for cars is the way the interior feels, smells, sounds, and looks like," says Philippe Aumont, the product planning vice president at Faurecia, a French car parts company that is working on enhancing the comfort of interiors while keeping environmental issues in mind. Sustainability is just another advantage of natural fibers, he says.

"We are resorting to materials that have already used CO2 in their life, it does not add to CO2 emissions," Aumont explains. "Land needs primarily to be used to grow crops to feed humans and animals. But what is not used from the crop like the core of a corn cob can be used for its fiber."

Faurecia's North American sales for the first half of 2007 are up 40% compared to last year.