Progress doesn’t seem to come particularly easily for Tesla Motors, nor without loads of opposition. The automaker continues its state-by-state lobbying against legislation banning factory-owned stores, facing hordes of dissenting dealers along the way, while every month, it seems, someone new comes along to warn of the company’s imminent collapse.
Oh, and now, Tesla Motors can count People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals among its list of opposing parties.
The Detroit Free Press reports that recently, a Texas shareholder named Mark Peters introduced a proposal to fellow shareholders, requesting that Tesla Motors “go vegan” with regard to its vehicle interiors by the year 2019. It was voted down, but came up again at the recent Tesla Motors shareholder meeting, where PETA representative Stephanie Downs urged fellow shareholders to pressure the automaker to use only “cruelty-free materials” in its offerings.
In all fairness to Mark Peters, he certainly doesn’t fit the profile of the usual Tesla Motors dissident; he owns 1,540 shares in the company, as well as a much-loved Model S sedan. But according to the Free Press, he argues that raising cattle for their leather impedes the carmaker’s intended purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions – an argument that has plenty of merit, as cows release considerable amounts of methane into the atmosphere.
And of course, Tesla Motors is far from the only automaker being pressured by PETA to drop the cow hide from their vehicle interiors.
When Peters’ proposal went before shareholders, according to the Free Press, the board had urged them not to support it, stating that “exploring alternatives would impede or delay” the company’s progress. But since then, CEO Elon Musk has said that he would give the issue further consideration.
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