DETROIT — Sapele, a sustainable, fast-growing wood known for giving acoustic guitars a little extra zing is one of several veneers making beautiful music with leather and other surface materials in the current lineup of Cadillac cars.
Sapele in tones of “nutella” brown and “raven” black add a dash of elegance to the 2014 Cadillac XTS’s award-winning interior design. Other high-gloss and open-pore wood trims such as black marble burl, black olive ash, okapi contra, smoked laurel burl, and real “piano black” raven wood accent other Cadillac interiors.
When considering wood trims, Cadillac interior designers research furnishing trends, paying close attention to color, tone, and grain movement when combining wood with materials such as brushed aluminum and carbon fiber. Ultimately, the designers select woods that embody Cadillac’s luxury appeal.
“By using multiple woods, we were able to come up with a rich mix of materials that will appeal to different customers,” says Erin Crossley, a Cadillac design manager. “Sapele, for instance, has a rich grain structure with a lot of movement. Just by looking at it, you know that it is genuine.”
XTS’s interior design is one of the more modern and sophisticated interpretations of the brand’s art and science design philosophy that incorporates sharp, sheer forms and crisp edges — a form vocabulary that invokes the high technology used to create it. In April, editors at Ward’s Auto named the XTS among its Ten Best Interiors of 2013 from a field of 46 new or refreshed nominees.
The XTS Platinum model, in particular, offers the highest levels of refinement with full Opus leather seat treatments and genuine Sapele wood details that create a luxurious interior environment.
“The woods featured in the XTS are purposefully placed to make the width and space of the interior feel as roomy as possible,” said Eric Clough, Cadillac director of design. “It is this kind of attention to detail that luxury car customers have come to expect from Cadillac.”
