How Much Does It Cost To Install Katzkin Leather Seats

Katzkin leather seats

If yous have a preference toward leather seats in your cars, the fact of the thing is that y'all probably spent a lot more on your last vehicle, and you lot're going to end upwards spending a lot more on your adjacent machine—compared to ane with textile or vinyl seats, that is.

Compounding the premium is that automakers know they can overcharge you for them, and really pad their profit over your requirement. The many thousands of dollars y'all might pay to get leather is likely far, far more than the price of the cowhides themselves; that'due south because they've determined that leather—like a few select features such as a moonroof, or a sophisticated connectivity interface—are enough to lure people up to the next trim level. And in general, each upper trim level (like EX over LX for Honda models, or LT over LS on Chevy models) tends to bring in more than profit.

To help ease that accident, an aftermarket upholsterer could help get you there more affordably. A California visitor called Katzkin is one of the best-known names, and they're pushing their leather-upholstery kits as an alternative. And, they say, their kit costs a lot less for a result that'due south comparable to, if not amend than, original-equipment leather seats.

A workaround that could save you thousands

In most cars, you tin relieve $2,000 to $4,000 by going with a lower trim that doesn't include leather, then calculation the Katzkin seats, argues the visitor. And on some SUVs, information technology's a $six,000 ot $vii,000 walk-upwards then the savings is fifty-fifty greater.

Say you have your optics on a dainty-and-uncomplicated 2022 Honda Accordance LX, with the base four-cylinder engine and automatic (lesser-line sticker: $22,950). But yous make up one's mind somewhere forth the line that y'all'd actually like to pay a little extra and become leather seats. Well, that'due south just not possible—at least non economically. In order to get those leather seats, you'll have to step up to the Accord EX-Fifty and all sorts of other equipment you might not want or need—to the melody of $28,325, or $5,375 more.

Likewise, on the 2022 Chevrolet Traverse, it requires offset stepping upward to the 2LT package—which is already $v,220 more than the base LS, so calculation a $ane,775 standalone leather seating option. And even then, y'all just get leather for the first ii rows.

Katzkin's kits aren't seat covers—instead, one of 2,000 certified installers (including retail chains like CarMax) will remove the original upholstery, and much of the hardware, down to the seat cream, and supercede it with leather that has a very precise, secure fit.

The specs, feel, safe of original-equipment

"It looks but like original," insists the company's chief designer Dave O'Connell. "At that place is no concrete or visual difference in the way our leather fits than for OEM leather."

The Katzkin kits take been reverse-engineered to factory seat constraints, model by model, and they all carry a iii-year, 36,000-mile warranty. As well, they come across all the original-equipment specs for airbag testing.

"Everything fits...Ameliorate than from the factory in some cases, as information technology's hand-fitted," said O'Connell, who says that the outcome feels like it was built onto the seat structure at the manufacturing plant. "Nosotros took the manufactory seat, and improved on it."

Katzkin leather interior

And it's permanent—meant to stay with the vehicle for its lifetime. Then it does increment the resale value of the vehicle over the long run, versus textile, according to the company.

Wrap it into new-car financing

As for the cost of the kit, Katzkin'south kits typically price $1,995 (installed) for a two-row vehicle, or $2,295 for a iii-row vehicle. And at most dealerships, you should be able to arrange for the job, and have information technology covered under new-machine financing. In add-on to three styles, Katzkin offers a regular-grain leather, as well as a premium grain Tuscany leather that's softer and suits high-terminate luxury applications.

The other large selling bespeak: the upholstery is hand-sewn in the United states of americaA. When an gild is placed, the seat kits are assembled at Katzkin'south own facility—in the Los Angeles region—that same twenty-four hour period, then next-twenty-four hours-shipped out to the installation partner. "Start to stop, it'southward a 48-hr fourth dimension flow," said O'Connell. "All of the manufacturing happens right here in LA with local folks."

Katzkin has congenital its name on kits, but looking ahead, the company is broadening its ventures in custom and private installs—such as those that some owners accept ordered to correspond with exterior color in the Camaro and other sports or muscle cars—as well equally in OEM installations. Nigh notably, its leather has appeared in this year'south Mopar show cars, including the Fiat 500 Stinger, Contrivance Sprint 210 Tribute, and Mopar 300.

For more than data, or to find an installer, see Katzkin'due south site.