Revealed: Cadillac unveils Sollei electric concept convertible
Published in Automotive News
In a bid to show the world what it's capable of, Cadillac on Monday revealed the Sollei ultra-luxury concept electric convertible that takes a bite out of the brand's history while showcasing the best of new technology.
Building off of the hand-built, high-luxury electric Celestiq, Sollei, which combines 'SOL' (sun) and 'LEI' (leisure), explores what's possible for custom vehicle design.
The vehicle, which John Roth, vice president of global Cadillac, calls a "design exploration," developed from the luxury brand pushing boundaries on what was possible in its work with unnamed Celestiq clients, on limited edition Blackwing high-performance vehicles and the all-electric Escalade IQ.
"The brand character starts to come out through concepts, but right now it's just looking for other areas of the business we could potentially explore and helping our designers and our suppliers look for new higher heights with this type of vehicle," Roth said.
The concept was officially unveiled at Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, a newly restored facility at GM’s Global Technical Center campus in Warren where customers come to design their $300,000-plus Celestiq. Next, the Sollei will head to Monterey Car Week and make some global debuts.
GM has had some Celestiq customers come through Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, but hasn't said how many customers it's working with on the custom vehicles. The automaker is "working to deliver" the Celestiq by the end of the year, Roth said.
"It's a process," Roth said. "We have a number of clients going through that process, and as those lock down that will give us better insight on when the vehicles will actually get produced. We don't have any dates to lock to yet because it's still a very fluid and flexible process."
Cadillac is unveiling the Sollei as it preps to start delivering the all-electric Escalade IQ before launching production of the Optiq entry-level compact SUV before the end of the year and the Vistiq three-row SUV next year.
The Escalade IQ will arrive "soon," Roth said.
Cadillac has been testing the electric version of its halo SUV on public roads to understand "the overall software experience in the vehicle and just making sure we get it right."
GM had previous software issues with the Cadillac Lyriq, its first electric vehicle to hit the market, and more recently the Chevrolet Blazer EV, which had a stop sale earlier this year for software issues.
"We know that we weren't perfect on Day One and that process has changed inside the company, and so we have vehicles out being driven here in Michigan, out in California, just making sure that all those validation rides are done properly," Roth said.
The Sollei has a 55-inch pillar-to-pillar screen and a sun-inspired interior with door panels that look like sun rays. A creamy, yellow exterior pays homage to Cadillac's heritage since the "Manila Cream" finish was originally used on Cadillacs in 1957 and 1958.
Interior features include a beverage chiller with a power glass door accompanied by crystal glasses and, for the bird-watching connoisseurs, 3D-printed acrylic bird calls, a leather-bound journal with hand painted bird illustrations and a leather tool roll for writing utensils.
Sollei has an array of sun-themed attributes, including sunburst-themed lighting, sunburst seat patterns and a metallic roof fabric called "Daybreak."
This is the brand's first concept to use an innovative bio-based material developed in collaboration with MycoWorks, a biotechnology company that develops premium, natural materials using fine mycelium. The company uses materials from mycelium, which is the renewable root structure of mushrooms. On the Sollei, it's incorporated in the charging mats on the console and the door map pockets.
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