The Sollei serves as a showcase of what a full-sized Cadillac convertible would look like today.
It has been a decade and a half Cadillac last had a convertible in its lineup with the Corvette-based XLR, and nearly 50 since it offered any true full-sized luxury convertible. Though if its newly revealed Sollei concept is anything to go by at least, there is the renewed possibility that the luxury American marque may once again offer a modern day successor to its proper drop top land yacht of the past.
A name that is derived from a combination of SOL, for the sun, and LEIsure, the Sollei is in essence a drop top version of Cadillac’s Celestiq four-door all-electric ultra-luxury hand-built flagship limousine. This concept nevertheless does features a few rather unique touches, in order to cash the cheques that its maker is writing by calling this the ‘ultimate design expression of a coach-built luxury electric convertible’.
Now everything from its prominent black crystal shield grille to just before its solid billet aluminium windshield frame on the Sollei is to be lifted straight off its fixed-roof Celestiq sibling, with both cars sharing the Ultium all-electric platform underneath as well. The differences between the two however on this drop top’s kicks off with its massive 1.73 m-long pair of doors, which (in this concept form at least) incidentally lack conventional door handles for that full American custom vibe.
Further adding to that American custom vibe meanwhile are a set of highly-polished 23-inch aluminium wheels on all four corners of this massive drop-top land yacht, as a slender light bar that is custom to this Sollei in turn holds court on its rounded rump. Other exterior highlights worth a mention here is for this luxury convertible to come with daybreak metallic fabric roof, while its Manila Cream exterior hue is a callback to a Caddy colour first seen on its cars when Malaya became independent.
Turning towards what lies within the Sollei now, the drop top concept technically shares much the same interior layout as its production four-door limo sibling. Where the Sollei bumps things up a notch though is in the finer details, like the meticulously hand-cut and hand-laid wood veneers with open-pore finishes lining its doors and seat backs for instance.
The Sollei’s seats also feature a sunburst motif in their perforation, quilting and embroidery, with the American automaker even adding a pink iridescent pigment to the Nappa leather to create a colour-changing effect. This is also the first Cadillac to feature a new renewable bio-based material called Fine Mycelium, while the tech portion of this big barge is headlined by a 55-inch curved display that stretches end-to-end on its dashboard, in addition to a multi-zone ambient lighting system with 126 colours to choose from.
And if anyone thinks that all this is a bit OTT, you really ain’t seen nothing yet. Such is as this Sollei also comes with an integrated beverage chiller with a powered glass door between its rear seats… which atop it sits a custom metal and leather-wrapped case housing four 3D-printed acrylic bird calls that fits in the rear centre console.
What more is that leaning heavily into the bird watching theme — an apparently in-vogue thing in America at the moment, at least according to Cadillac officials — the Sollei further features a leather-bound journal with hand-painted bird illustrations. It even comes with custom leather tool roll for pens and pencils that matches the interior, for passengers to easily tick off the birds they see!
So yes, much like the land yacht Caddies of yesteryear, this Sollei has been thoughtfully designed to pick up chics. But just that this time round it is more of the avian variety…
In going from the birds in the sky to the batteries underneath the car, Cadillac has yet to actually divulge any technical specifics regarding the powertrain of the Sollei concept. The Celestiq on which it shares its all-electric platform however comes packing a 600 horsepower dual-motor all-wheel-drive system and a massive 111 kWh battery pack, which enables the fixed-roof land yacht to (somehow) sprint from 0-96 km/h in just 3.8 seconds and travel around 480 km on a single charge.
If going by what the hand-built Celestiq currently offers its customers as well, the Sollei should also be offering to those who have the means a near-limitless ability in personalising their drop-top land yachts to suit their whims and fancies, if it ever gets put into production that is.
“What a vehicle like Sollei does is that it allows us to give those creative individuals inside the Cadillac organisation a chance to express themselves, and I think they’ve done a good job of expressing what a 2+2 convertible could look like,” said John Roth, Cadillac’s global vice president.
