Yahoo Autos Cadillac Sollei Concept Reaffirms the Brand's Grandiose Luxury Ambitions
The Cadillac Sollei concept is a stylish take on the electric Celestiq, minus a roof and two doors.
The Sollei is decked out in a unique Manila Cream yellow paint and features beautifully laid wood trim throughout the cabin.
The concept also includes a bespoke crystal drink set and a custom-made collection of 3D-printed bird calls and a journal for bird-watching enthusiasts.
Once heralded as one of the premier luxury marques worldwide, Cadillac's status faltered as its cars increasingly shared parts with other General Motors vehicles. It also didn't help that the brand went two decades without a true flagship car after the Eldorado petered out in the early 2000s. But that is set to change with the imminent arrival of the hand-built, highly bespoke electric Celestiq. Today Cadillac revealed the Sollei concept, an exquisite two-door convertible that reinforces Cadillac's ability to craft opulent and elegant luxury vehicles.
At its core, the Sollei is effectively a roofless Celestiq with two fewer doors. This is evident from the illuminated grille that dominates the front end, with everything ahead of the A-pillar shared with the Celestiq. The Sollei and Celestiq also have the same wheelbase and overall length, and while Cadillac was mum on powertrain specifics, company representatives did say that the Sollei utilizes the same Ultium battery platform.
But the Sollei concept is less about the driving experience and more focused on design and craftsmanship. The name comes from "sol," for sun, and "lei," for leisure, and the design exudes tranquility. Without the Celestiq's hatchback silhouette, the Sollei looks lithe and features simple but graceful LED taillights that stretch the width of the rear en. In person, the car's length gives it a serious amount of presence.
The Sollei is hand-painted in Manila Cream, a color first found on Cadillacs in 1957 and 1958. The convertible rolls on 23-inch wheels with a gleaming silver finish, while the other metal trim, such as the brushed aluminum windshield surround, glows with a rose gold "Aurora" look. Instead of door handles, there are subtle buttons integrated into the door trim.
The doors themselves are colossal, easily five feet long, and glide open to reveal a debonair interior with swaths of rich leather and acres of the finest wood. The wood was left unstained to show off the natural color and grain patterns and has an open-pore finish. Each strip of wood is hand-cut and hand-laid using a furniture technique called marquetry, and the paneling runs down the side of the cabin and up the rear of the seats in a pattern that has an Art Deco flair.
The cabin shares the same yellow color as the exterior, which pairs beautifully with the light tans of the wood. The wood pattern on the seat backs as well as the stitching and perforation on the seat cushions are meant to emulate a sunburst. The Nappa leather, meanwhile, is coated in a pink iridescent pigment that Cadillac says produces "a subtle color-changing sunrise effect."
The dashboard is largely the same as that in the Celestiq, with the same 55-inch pane of glass spanning the width of the dashboard and containing two separate screens. In between the rear seats sits an integrated chiller with a powered glass door, holding a bespoke crystal decanter and glasses. The interior ambient lighting has 126 color choices and several zones that can individually adjusted.
Along with the drink set, the Sollei also features a more unique accessory housed betwixt the rear seats. Due to the car's open-top nature, Cadillac decided to include a custom brushed metal and leather-wrapped case featuring four 3-D-printed acrylic bird calls. The kit also includes a leather-bound journal with hand-painted bird illustrations and a leather tool roll to hold pens and pencils so bird-watchers can record what they see. It's certainly one of the most unique and beautifully crafted concept-car accessories in recent memory.
Cadillac's press release mentions a fabric roof, although we didn't get to see it in action when we got up close with the concept at the Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, a facility that Celestiq buyers visit to customize their bespoke machines. Cadillac describes the Sollei as a design exercise, but also says that it "pushes the boundaries of future bespoke commissions." We have a strong feeling that several Celestiq reservation holders will phone up Cadillac wanting a Sollei, so we wouldn't be shocked to see a very limited production run. Regardless, the breathtaking concept reaffirms Cadillac's commitment to high-end luxury and hand-crafted, bespoke vehicles.
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