Imagining The Cadillac Sollei Convertible Concept As A Classic Coupe

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.

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.