Cadillac Sollei concept: a stunning electric roadster created with… mushrooms

This is Cadillac’s latest all-electric concept, and it’s a 2+2, coach-built convertible dubbed the ‘Sollei’. The name is a combination of sun (sol) and leisure (lei) - perhaps ‘all-inclusive week in Barbados’ just didn’t work?

Anyway, it previews some pretty funky solutions for sustainable interior decor: it’s the first Caddy concept that uses bio-based materials crafted from mycelium (the root structure of mushrooms). So you get to say your shiny new convertible has some influence from the Goombas in Super Mario Bros knitted into the centre console and door cards.

There’s also a strong serving of wood veneer in places, which combines with the quilted (and embroidered) cream upholstery and colour-changing leather to form a properly classy look.

Other key cabin details include a 55in pillar-to-pillar screen, ‘intuitive’ front and rear command consoles and many illuminated surfaces. The latter will combine with the 126 colour-changing options for the ambient lighting to likely turn the interior into the settings of an average whiskey lounge on a Friday night.

Ironically, you do also get a drinks fridge out back between the rear seats, whose intricately designed occupants are shielded by a glass door. And, check this: the Sollei also comes with brushed metal and leather-wrapped bird call instruments. Ideal for you to call forth Trafalgar Square’s army of pigeons en route to your favourite whiskey lounge.

Time to talk design: the low, stretched body is complemented by broad shoulders and long, coupe doors which have buttons in place of conventional handles. They should provide fairly dignified access to the rear, though the doors themselves may be a pain if you were to park within 12 metres of just about any parallel object.

There’s also a lack of any real curvature along the body aside from the indentations ahead of the rear wheel arches, so traits like the single-bar taillight and roofline make for a strikingly clean design. The paint finish is also rather lovely, no? It’s called ‘Manila Cream’ and was a colour originally sprayed across classic Caddys from the late ‘50s.

Finally, there’s the metallic roof, which Cadillac calls ‘Daybreak’ for its ability to… let sunlight pour into the interior. We’re not kidding, either, that’s literally what’s been written. Suppose the name expires once daylight does too, then.

Anyway, no details have been released as yet on the powertrain or even a potential release, but we do definitely know it’ll affect the world’s mushroom populous.