The Phaeton's Dead... Long Live the Phaeton

[ASurroca]

I'm sure by now everyone who keeps track of Volkswagen news knows that the Phaeton will be dropped from the US market. Call me a "fanboy" if you will, but I firmly believe its failure in the US market was due in large part to the depreciation of the US dollar versus the euro (weren't it for this, Volkswagen could have sold the Phaeton for some $15k less, making it a bargain).

So, anyhow, the topic of a second-gen Phaeton has been popping up here and there on other forums. Some folks think this "CLS killer" might in fact be the second-gen Phaeton, but I'm not so sure. That model is going to be built at the Emden plant and IIRC will be built off the Passat's chassis; and I don't see why they would move the second-gen Phaeton's production away from the Glass Factory after all that hulaballo.

At any rate, it appears that the bosses at Volkswagen realized that having two executive luxury sedans is stupid, especially when the Audi A8L is so much better at what it does (and better-selling) than the Phaeton. I do think that the low-key styling of the Phaeton was a "miss" on the market, since it hit market precisely at a moment when consumers were screaming for in-your-face styling. So, VW is going back to the drawing board, and by that I mean the original Concept D1. In other words, like the Concept D1, the next Phaeton is expected to be a 5-door fastback. In other words, it will be substantially different from the Audi A8L.

Here's the latest rendering out there, from Road&Track:



I'd have to say, it's probably pretty close to the real deal. After all, it basically looks like a gigantic Passat turned hatchback. And I'm digging it.

[Deserion]

I'd hit it.

-Des

[dnyed]

I'd hit a Passat, before I'd hit that.....

[jdesigns]

I love it!

[PhoenixRising]

Ah, too bad. It was a Super Expensive Keen Car, at least I thought so.

[mentalVdub]

that's mad cool, but i could never fathom spending at least 60k on a VW.

[Fowvay]

THAT'S H-O-T HOT HOT HOT!!!!

[Mortville]

Looks rediculous to me.

[kcfoxie]

Originally Posted by mentalVdub

that's mad cool, but i could never fathom spending at least 60k on a VW.

I like it. If I had the ability to friviously spend money on such luxury, I'd certainly demand it in hatchback form. Sedans are sooo 1990s! :P

[TommyK8]

Volkswagen has a lot more things to worry about than the Phaeton. I'm sorry, but it's failure in the U.S. is due to a complete inability by Volkswagen to understand the American car market. There are only a very few people in this country that are willing to spend $80,000+ on a Volkswagen. The foundation of VW in this country is the air-cooled Beetle, and that evolved into a perception of this brand as making a mostly economical, reliable car, with a unique look and feel. It doesn't include a luxury automobile at prices that when fully loaded approached $100K. In order to Volkswagen to be successful, they have to go back to their roots, improve on quality issues, and continue to develop unique, economical, good looking, and fun cars.

[ASurroca]

We'll see what comes out of the so-called "moonraker" project, but 1) VWoA appears to be finally turning an ear to the enthusiast/tuner crowd, and 2) they've said something about a US-only sub-Golf vehicle. I think while focusing on core offerings and enthusiast-friendly stuff, Volkswagen should wait until after the "CLS fighter" has hit market before thinking about bringing a second-gen Phaeton to the US.

[Phormula]

It was expected. The Phaeton was the Volkswagen nobody asked for. It was the dream of former president. Dr. Piech wanted to show that Volkswagen was able to build a luxury car and he went ahead in spite of all suggestion to market it either as an Audi, a Bentley or even to resurrect the Horch brand. The point is simple, in spite of Piech's dreams, people who sign checks for those cars do not want to buy only a piece of technology and quality, they want to see the "right" emblem on the steering wheel. It took 25 years to Audi to move from a popular car manufacturer to a sound alternative (here in Europe) to Mercedes and BMW. Hoping to do the same step with a single model was asking too much. Definitely.
Now the point is. what are they going to do with the Dresden factory? The "glass factory" was build around the Phaeton. Converting it to a more popular model won't be easy.

[kcfoxie]

No, conversions are never easy. This falls right in line with VW being a bit out of touch with itself (as evidant in US marketing and worldwide sales of certain models), but that's OK. I buy VW because I'm not all together myself, why should the car company be?

I want a Phaeton. I saw five of them in my city around the time of it's release, all tagged and being driven. I talked to one owner, a vet VW owner, who adored it and said it was everything the Bugatti they never wanted had!

Now, I think VW CAN make the Glass Factory work on another model rather easily, I mean they did convert (or add on?) to Puebla to make New Beetles and Jettas along side the aircooled cars, which I am sure share little more than a name in the manufacturing process.

[Byros]

I really like the older Phaeton, but it's price is waaaaaay too much for a Volkswagen,
add to that the quality issues with the MK IV cars, and poor customer service at the VW stealerships.

There's no way i'm shelling out 80K+ for a Volkwagen when that money could buy me a BMW, Audi or Mercedes.

As for the new Phaeton, I find it just awful......

[vw_beetle_gpx]

BOOOOOOOO


sorry, for that cash, its BMW all the way man

[kcfoxie]

Originally Posted by vw_beetle_gpx

BOOOOOOOO


sorry, for that cash, its BMW all the way man

Wasn't this car partially hand built? Does the BMW sport the same?

[Deserion]

Photothread of Phaeton assembly at the Glass Factory in Dresden.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1837641

-Des

[squeebug]

wow awsome pictures!

[Knox]

I always wondered what VW was thinking bringing a $60K car to the states, home of the label hungry American. It was hard to imagine VW convincing buyers to purchase a car with the same logo that adorns the Beetle, it just wasn't meant to be (no offense to the Beetle owners).

[beetlejuice]

Too bad. I think this was partly a marketing problem. They should have made the Phaeton a separate marque and left off the VW badges for all the reasons listed above. Will these cars become instant collectables?
juice