UPDATE: An Elephant Was Killed to Make This Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat’s Seats

It is extremely unfortunate that ivory from elephants killed in Namibia and South Africa can still be imported. That’s an inexcusable gap in the regulatory system of those countries. And even though some countries have barred trophy hunting, wildlife services have a hard time protecting the wild game in Africa. As a consequence, the black market continues to cash in.

Speaking of wild game, the Big Five (African elephant, African lion, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and rhinoceros) continue to be threatened by poachers. The lion and elephant are currently classified as “vulnerable.” The leopard and white rhinoceros are “threatened.” As for the black rhino and the northern white rhino of Africa, they’re “critically endangered.” The buffalo is of “least concern,” even though the buffalo population continues to dwindle.

Now let’s get back to the focus of this story. Exactly how did Carlex Design acquire elephant leather to dress up the seats of a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat? Trophy hunting is out of the question in this case because the trophy is meant to be displayed as a representation of the hunt’s success. Seats wrapped in the skin of an African elephant are not that, not by a long shot.

WTF, Carlex Design? Other than the questionable choice of leather, the tuning company thought that the standard door panels would be better if they were replaced with sculpted charred wood. The extremely hideous steering wheel, however, is made from engraved silver because why the hell not?

Dear Carlex Design, this Hellcat is a sorry excuse for a tuning job. As for importing elephant skin, that’s not illegal is you have an export permit from the CITES office in the country where the elephant was killed. It is, however, a murky ethical choice that you should be very, very ashamed of.

UPDATE 1: Carlex Design has deleted "Elephant Leather" from the presentation page of its SRT Hellcat tuning program, yet the pictures continue to show elephant skin wrapping the car's seats.

Here is the Carlex Design elephant skin Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat page before the publication of this article (via Cached View).

And here is the Carlex Design elephant skin Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat page after publication.

And here's an added bonus.

UPDATE 2: Shark skin is on the menu as well. H/T to Marin for the find.

UPDATE 3: At long last, here is an explanation from the tuning company:

"On behalf of Carlex Design company We would like to inform you that all the leathers used by Carlex Design in car interiors’ implementations possess all necessary and required by law certificates. Especially when it comes to the leathers sourced from animals not considered as farmed, each and every supplier that cooperates with Carlex Design is required to provide appropriate paperwork to certify their origin based on the applicable European law regulations."

It's admirable that the paperwork is OK, but at the end of the day, that still is the skin of an elephant on the seats of a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.

UPDATE 4: Carlex Design has issued the following statement on Facebook.