In July, Cadillac unveiled the breezy Cadillac Sollei, a lavish concept convertible based on by the real-life Cadillac Celestiq – the luxury marque’s flagship ultra-luxury electric sedan. In fact, the Sollei is essentially a cabriolet version of the Celestiq, featuring a two-door configuration and a soft convertible top. But what if the Sollei swapped its soft top for a hard top coupe treatment? Cadillac Society took to the realm of digital art to find the answer.
A lot of thought went into the Sollei’s soft top. In Episode 10 of the Cadillac Society Podcast, Cadillac Society Executive Editor, Alex Luft, explains Caddy’s reasoning behind using the soft-top over a hard-top. Luft had the opportunity to speak with with GM Design Chief Michael Simcoe during the Sollei reveal, who clarified that the soft top allowed more freedom from a design standpoint than a hard top. Simply put, a folding hardtop configuration would take up too much space, significantly impacting the vehicle’s design.
Cadillac Sollei coupe rendering
Cadillac Sollei convertible concept
It’s also worth noting that the soft top isn’t unique to the Sollei. In fact, almost every ultra-luxury convertible utilizes a soft top, putting the Cadillac Sollei concept convertible in league with the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley. In fact, thank to advances in materials, using soft tops on luxury convertible models has become a trend, prompting some automakers to make the switch on existing models, such as the Mercedes-Benz SL, which now features a soft top rather than the hard top found on previous-gen models.
We rendered our own version of the Sollei as a traditional coupe, fitting it with a traditional hard top roof. In the spirit of the Sollei, which itself is a love letter to the sun and open air, we treated it to a large section of side glass that extends past the doors. We also nixed the B-pillar to give its greenhouse a more open feel. The end result is a full-size coupe with a traditional three-box profile, deviating from its donor car, the fastback-like Celestiq.
Let us know what you think of our Cadillac Sollei coupe rendering by voting in the poll below, and drop us a line in the comments with your thoughts.
Cadillac Sollei Concept Photos
Frank+Ricciardi
I’m sorry, but I just don’t get this concept. Why is Cadillac wasting time and money building concept cars that will never make it to market. Cadillac needs to develop cars that people actually want to buy and can afford. Cadillac needs to build cars that compete with the Mersedes S-Class and E-Class as well as the Audi A6 and BMW 5 Series. I think the 2025 CT6 could be the car, but they need to bring it to the US.
Jess
Couldn’t agree with you more, Frank. While I am very much enjoying the 2024 CT5-V I’m currently leasing, I REALLY miss the two CT6s I had. The CT5-V is a completely different car, and I expected this, but it lacks the elegance and refinement of the CT6. I’m extremely disappointed with Cadillac for giving up on the large, luxury sedan segment.