Actually the material is definitly NOT leather. The reason I know is because I sourced it from BMW's source and got my hands on the material itself.
The material is a two part sanwitch between vinyl stamped with a carbon fiber pattern and a backing material, used for many types of leatherette material. It does NOT have carbon fibers in it and it is NOT leather. The top portion is leather, and is actually some of the most expensive leather material on the market. With that said BMW developed their own pattern for the vinyl so it's actually a very expensive vinyl.
Carbon leather means that it is a combination of carbon fiber look vinyl and leather.
If anyone wants some carbon fiber trim made with real carbon fibers I actually figured out a way to make it:
Real carbon fiber has much much more texture and looks completely different than the BMW carbon vinyl, which is about the thickness of a shopping bag, and again just a stamped pattern.
Hope that clears things up.