The Cadillac Sollei idea is a more high-class version of the electric Celestiq. It has two doors and no roof. Inside the Sollei’s cabin, the wood trim is beautifully made, and the boat is painted a bright yellow, called Manila Cream. The idea includes a custom-made crystal drink set, a logbook for birdwatchers, and a collection of 3D-printed bird sounds. Cadillac used to be known as one of the best luxury brands in the world, but as more and more parts of its cars were used in other General Motors cars, the brand’s image started to fall. It didn’t help that the Eldorado died in the early 2000s, leaving the company without a real star car for twenty years. But that’s about to change when the Celestiq, a hand-built electric car that can be customized in a lot of ways, comes out. Cadillac showed off the beautiful Sollei concept today. It’s a two-door convertible that shows how good the company is at making luxurious and classy cars. In its most basic form, the Sollie is a Celestiq without a roof and two fewer doors. This is clear from the LED grille in the middle of the front end; everything before the A-pillar is the same as the Celestiq. Even though Cadillac wouldn’t say anything about the engine, they did say that the Sollei and Celestiq have the same overall length and wheelbase. The Ultium battery base is also in the Sollei. However, the Sollei idea is more about design and skill than about how it feels to drive. The name of the style comes from the words “lei,” which means “leisure,” and “sol,” which means “sun.” The Sollei has simpler but more elegant LED headlights that run the length of the back, while the Celestiq is shaped like a hatchback. People pay a lot of attention to the car up close because it is so long. The Sollei has the color Manila Cream drawn on it by hand. This color was first used on Cadillacs in 1957 and 1958. The convertible has 23-inch wheels that are finished in silver. Other metal parts, like the brushed aluminum surrounding the window, have an “Aurora” glow that is rose gold. Instead of knobs, there are small buttons built into the door trim. The doors are very long—about five feet—and slide open to show a stylish interior made of acres of the finest leather and wood. The wood has an open-pore finish, which means that the color and grain patterns of the wood were left alone. In the marquetry furniture process, each strip of wood is cut and put down by hand. This paneling looks like it was made in the Art Deco style. It goes around the side of the house and under the seats. The outside and inside of the house are both yellow, which goes well with the light tans in the wood. The wood design on the seat backs and the stitching and holes in the seat cushions are meant to look like a sunburst. In their words, the pink iridescent pigment used on the Nappa leather gives it “a subtle color-changing sunrise effect.” The dashboard and Celestiq share some similarities. For example, the dashboard has a 55-inch glass panel with two different screens. A one-of-a-kind crystal decanter and glasses are kept in a cooler built into the rear seats with a motorized glass door. The atmospheric lighting inside can be changed to any of 126 colors, and each zone can be changed separately. Along with the drink set, the Sollei has a one-of-a-kind extra that can be stored between the back seats. Because the car had an open top, Cadillac decided to include a custom box made of brushed aluminum and leather that had four 3-D printed acrylic bird sounds inside. The kit comes with a leather-bound diary with hand-painted bird pictures and a leather tool roll that can hold pens and pencils to help birdwatchers keep track of their notes. Without question, it is one of the most beautifully made and one-of-a-kind concept car accessories we have seen in recent months. In its news release, Cadillac talks about a fabric roof, but when we saw the idea up close at the Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, where Celestiq bespoke machine owners go to make changes to their gear, we weren’t able to see it working. Cadillac says that even though the Sollei is just a design exercise, it “pushes the boundaries of future bespoke commissions.” A few Celestiq reservation buyers will call Cadillac and say they want a Sollei, so it wouldn’t surprise us if there were a very small production run. Still, the beautiful design shows that Cadillac is dedicated to making high-end, custom-built cars.
