Revealed at the Cadillac House at Vanderbilt within the Global Technical Center campus in Warren, the Sollei marks the return of the convertible at Cadillac. However, this fellow is but a concept, meaning that General Motors isn't likely to adapt it for series production.
Series production may be a stretch, though, because even the Celestiq sedan on which it's based is a low-volume electric vehicle. Cadillac targets 100 to 150 examples annually, a volume that can only be described as a drop in the bucket compared to the S-Class and 7 Series.
The Sonderklasse moved 4,785 units in the first half of 2024 in the United States alone, whereas the rivaling Bimmer is listed with 5,138 deliveries in the first two quarters. Then again, the Celestiq plays in a completely different league from the aforementioned full-size luxury sedans.
How different of a league? Think approximately $340,000 before customization as opposed to $96,400 for the combustion-engined BMW 740i or $105,700 for the all-electric BMW i7. Stylized as SOLLEI, the Celestiq-based concept takes its name from the words for sun and leisure. A different animal from your usual open-air land yacht, Sollei also showcases the Cadillac's brand openness to coach-built commissions.
The 2+2 convertible features unique interior appointments and exterior details, including the sunburst-motif lighting and graphic choreography. Sollei further incorporates a bio-based material for the charging mats on the door map pockets and the center console.
Photo: Cadillac
Boasting an iridescent finish, the material couldn't have been made possible without mycelium, a.k.a. a root-like fungus structure comprising many small threads. Cadillac and the folks at MycoWorks describe it as being the renewable root structure of mushrooms.
Pictured in oh-so-classy Manila Cream of Cadillacs from the latter part of the 1950s, the concept is both luxurious and high tech. For example, it boasts a beverage chiller and a dashboard-wide display totaling 55 inches. Beautified with a pink iridescent pigment for the Nappa leather upholstery, Sollei features a textured floormat made from a boucle fabric and headrest speakers for all four occupants.
The front seat backs are wrapped in hand-cut and hand-laid wood veneers, while the windshield is framed in milled brushed aluminum. All in all, it's a seriously exquisite car. On the other hand, it suffers from the very same problem as the Cadillac Celestiq five-door liftback sedan.
Part of the problem is Cadillac dropping the ball on what Cadillac used to mean through badge engineering and the notoriously bad Olds diesel V8 in the 1980s. Closer to the present day, Cadillac lost even more credibility as a player in the luxury segment after discontinuing the CT6 from the US market in favor of a China-exclusive second generation with – get this – a 2.0-liter turbo I4 as the sole engine choice.
The Celestiq and – by extension – the Sollei both feature the General Motors BEV3, which entered series production with the Lyriq crossover. The BEV3 is also used by the Chevrolet division's Equinox EV. One might be impressed by the modularity of said architecture. Looking at the bigger picture, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a luxury electric vehicle that features the same platform as a budget electric vehicle wouldn't sit well with most prospective customers in the market for a zero-emission luxobarge.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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