Cadillac is working to attract more younger buyers with a newsworthy design innovation in the compact electric crossover SUV Optiq.

The General Motors luxury brand has incorporated center consoles made from old newsprint and tulip wood and interior fabric made completely with recycled material.

Its upcycling efforts are aimed at increasing the percentage of Cadillac’s younger buyers, a segment that tends to be environmentally conscious and that's grown 5% in the U.S. in the past five years, said the Detroit automaker, which is in part focusing the efforts on the Optiq.

“The target customer for this vehicle skews young, and this is an entry-level product for Cadillac,” said Nina Cho, a colors, materials and finish designer who worked on the Optiq. “So we think a younger customer will appreciate the modern aesthetic that comes with using innovative materials.”

The vehicle’s center consoles are made of a veneer composed of equal parts recycled newsprint and tulip wood that even reveals on close inspection type from the old newspapers. 

“The PaperWood veneer is made by repeatedly stacking the thin layer of the dark tulip wood with the recycled newspaper, and then they essentially mill the laminates for use in the car from the stack, so that’s why you can see the newsprint letters in the white grain part,” said Cho, who explained that each Optiq’s console veneer is unique because it’s made from different newspapers.

GM said thew new Optiq will enter production this fall and be sold in “luxury” and “sport” trims, both of which will feature the recycled-materials fabric, though the PaperWood veneer will come as an option.

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