Cadillac’s Luxury Sollei Concept
The legendary brand’s new luxury electric convertible explores the possibilities of custom-commissioned vehicle design.
Cadillac has always held a storied, almost mythical, place in automotive history, and the brand’s panache and prestige have always been part of the culture. Even as a child you knew to be impressed when you found out that a classmate’s dad drove a Cadillac, and maybe you’ve seen the Seinfeld episode where Jerry buys a Cadillac complete with trademark twin tailfins for his parents to drive around their Florida retirement community.
That prestige has been amplified with Cadillac’s recent unveiling of its SOLLEI concept vehicle, the ultimate design expression of a coach-built electric convertible and distinguished by the classic craftmanship that has always been at the heart of Cadillac design and luxury. The ideas of sun (“SOL”) and leisure (“LEI”) are combined in the SOLLEI edition to represent Cadillac’s inspiration for sunny, leisurely lifestyles in this bespoke expression of luxury and performance.
“SOLLEI reimagines the discovery of travel, envisioning a personalized and concierge driving experience that intimately connects with the world around us,” said Erin Crossley, design director for Cadillac’s Halo vehicle, CELESTIQ. “By exploring clients’ design aspirations, SOLLEI cultivates high luxury through limitless, artfully designed expressions, elevating experiences beyond travel.”
SOLLEI’s sophisticated exterior and clean body style embody Cadillac’s unmistakable bold proportions and emotions, trademarks across its lines of vehicles. The low, elongated body is accentuated by a wide stance and long coupe door, facilitating easy access to the spacious rear cabin for comfort and relaxation. The windshield frame, crafted from milled brushed aluminum unique to the SOLLEI concept, showcases the detailed craftmanship that can be expected in a Cadillac.
The streamlined look is further enhanced by the push door, designed with minimalism in mind, which eliminates conventional door handles and enhances the vehicle’s refined and intentional look. Uninterrupted surfaces and a stretched A-line emphasize the vehicle’s length, while the low tail design creates dynamic yet elegant proportions that have been associated with Cadillac throughout its long history.
Celebrating Cadillac’s bold colour heritage, the exterior of SOLLEI is finished in Manila Cream, a colour formulation a tribute to the brand’s history and originally used on Cadillacs in 1957 and 1958. This ode to the past and revived colouring required meticulous hand-painting by Cadillac craftspeople.
The artistic interior of the SOLLEI reflects its expressive personality while channelling Cadillac’s art of travel design philosophy, featuring a fully integrated beverage chiller with power glass door, crystal glasses, an open-air interior cabin and a retractable roof to further blend leisure and travel seamlessly.
As is usual with Cadillac, every detail seems to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. The interior décor, wrapped in unstained wood veneers, honours natural colour and grain-pattern variations, while exquisite surfaces feature open pore finishes whose wood grain is meant to be felt when you touch them, enveloping both driver and passengers in quality and luxury. In fact, Cadillac craftmanship is evident throughout the vehicle’s elegant interior, with each piece hand-cut and hand-laid using marquetry techniques that create beautiful and luxurious focal points for the eye to gaze upon, from the front doors to the console to the rear compartment.
After sundown is when SOLLEI really shines. Like Cadillac’s Halo vehicle, the all-electric CELESTIQ, SOLLEI offers distinctive interior lighting for true customization. With four separate zones and 126 colour options in each zone, the lighting can evoke specific moods and the owner is able to personalize it to vary the interior ambience.
Continuing Cadillac’s tradition of bespoke excellence, the SOLLEI concept reinforces its vision of modern design, customized according to each client’s desires. Currently, clients can design their own CELESTIQ vehicle with Cadillac designers and concierge teams. This ability to custom-design your own Cadillac combines driver freedom, luxury and leisure like never before.