[Timgt5]

The Forgotten Volkswagen Phaeton

On Object Lesson of Perception vs Reality

For many of us here who are shall we say a bit older what mental picture do you have of Volkswagen?

Most likely it is the little air cooled Beatle that was first introduced in the 1940’s or perhaps the newer water cooled version that was brought to the market in 1998.


In the course of my youth VW was about being cheap, durable and fuel efficient. Of course during the late 70’s the big Japanese companies bombarded our shores with their own fleets of small, affordable and fuel efficient cars. Most of all the Asian hardware was very reliable. The Pennsylvania-built Rabbit that followed the original “Bug” was a disaster. Volkswagen during the 1980’s became a quirky and marginalized car maker, known for its “chic car” the Cabriolet, than anything else.

Then in the 1990’s VW began a slow and sure march upscale. The company began focusing on giving the premium experience for family car pricing. The Mark IV Passat won much praise for its high grade interior and solidly Germanic performance. People began to accept VW as the purveyor of inexpensive upscale cars.

In the early 2000’s Ferdinand Piech, the then head of the Volkswagen Group and a man whose ego could not be contained in a jumbo jet hanger (only someone with his kind of chutzpa could unleash the insane performance monstrosity of the Bugatti Veryon on the world) decided that VW needed to compete with world’s best luxury car makers. He had watched on the sidelines as upstart Lexus staked out a significant claim on the high end luxury market with the LS430. He decided that VW belonged their as well.

Mr. Piech challenged his best engineers to create the greatest luxury sedan ever made. It was to exceed every known standard for fit and finish. The engineering capabilities he wanted were almost ludicrous by standards that existed back then. It was rumored he wanted the car to be able to cruise comfortably at over 170 miles per hour in 120 degree heat with the AC running full force for hours on end. Several of the top engineers actually quit the project because they believed his requirements were impossible to meet.

However despite all of the difficulties VW was able to bring forth the Phaeton in 2004




***As an aside it is a common misconception that the Phaeton is simply a rebadged Audi A8, despite similarities in size, the A8 was developed independently and uses an entirely different platform.

The Phaeton true to Mr. Piech’s vision was indeed a “Lear Jet on wheels” Beautifully appointed, and loaded with every bell and whistle carmakers at that time knew how to add to a car. All wheel drive was standard. The car came with 345HP W8 in the base model, and a 420HP W12 was an optional choice. The base (and I use the word loosely) Phaeton started at 65 grand and the W12 was nearly 100,000 bucks. These price points put them right into contention with the BMW 7 series and Mercedes S Class. On paper the huge VW (it weighed more than a Cadillac Sedan Deville and was almost as long) was a superior product. The interior was slathered in beautiful wood, and the plastics and carpeting were all high dollar. It featured the world's first 4 zone climate control, and a novel register style HVAC system that elimated blowing fans and vents. It dispatched slow traffic blindingly quick in near silence and the active suspension pounded the road into ultra smooth submission.

So VW had in many ways the best big Euro super sedan on the planet, and for a competitive price. Yet the Phaeton was a dismal failure with only a few sold. If one were to search the net for used ones, one could easily find 5-6 year old examples for less than 20 grand. What happened?

Despite all of the objective and logical merits of the Phaeton, it was still wearing this:



On its nose.

Because so many people were incapable seeing VW beyond the Beetle, the Golf and the Jetta, they could not conceive of a 65-100K luxury car wearing a VW badge and so VW could not give them away, Mr. Peich had VW reach just a bit too high.

The Phaeton disappeared quickly and is regarded today as a marketing failure in the same vein as Ford’s Edsel. (The Phaeton does still sell in small numbers in Europe).

Now here is the great irony in all of this. While the Phaeton itself is gone, its mechanical components are still with us.

For those of you who have watched a Rap video in the last few years or live in the right parts of town may have seen one of these:





Both of these cars are Bentleys. The two door is called the Continental, the Four Door is the called the Flying Spur.

Underneath the winged badges, the unmistakable grill, and the all the swag that goes with it is the Volkswagen Phaeton, same chassis, same transmission, same engine.

Funny how the same people who turn their noses up at $100,000 V-12 VW, willingly embrace and pay more than $180,000 for the same car with a different badge and outer skin.

Volkswagen group should be given the ultimate award for marketing.

After all how many companies can fail with one product, then reintroduce the product under a different name and successfully charge nearly twice the price?

I guess Just another case where perception dictates reality.

It is rumored that Piech and VW will bring the Phaeton back in a few years. So far, no details have been released.

Frankly, I thought the VW brand had lost its roots when it introduced the Phaeton. The rationale was that VW (The word volkswagen, when translated into English, means "peoples' car."), which owns several lesser brands in Europe such as Skoda and SEAT, was moving upscale. However, those other brands are not sold in the US market where VW is the introductory brand and Audi is its upscale division.

Also, the VW brand no longer had a reputation for quality in the US, having had several embarrasing recalls including one for engine coils that failed while cars were in motion - imagine driving down the highway and having your car's 4 cylinder engine have 2 coils fail and continuing on just 2 cylinders. With a reputation like that, who would buy a big VW costing 60 to 100K? Very few. Yes, the Bentley brand was a big beneficiary of the Phaeton's failure. Bentley also needed new product, having been split from Rolls-Royce and purchased by VW but only having one model - the aging Arnage.

The VW brand image did not translate into sales of high price cars here in the US where, in the luxury car market, a good name means a lot. A good example is the failure of Mercedes-Benz's Maybach brand. The name equity was just not there. Well, okay, the cars were ugly too! And, frankly, for all its quality, the VW Phaeton also lacked visual pizzazz that the Bentley's have in spades.

[Open Eyes]

Hmmm, very interesting info. I agree unhappy guy, the Phaeton does lack the visual pizzazz.

I think the beatles are cute little cars, but years ago when I got in one, I mean years ago, I truely felt that god forbid one get in an accident, that would pretty much be it.
I personally like to see some hood in front of me. When your behind the wheel of the beatle, you don't see any hood, it is all raw road, just doesn't feel safe to me. And I know from the picture up there it looks like you would see hood, but you don't not the way it angles down, it isn't that big.

Oh, you know what car I really liked that I had for a while, the Datsun, they were very dependable little economic cars. And they were fun to drive. Ok, I am talking about 35 years ago, yes that would be vintage now.

Oh, in high school I had a cougar convertable with air conditioning, it was so rad. And I have never seen another car the color that car was, it was a very soft green and I have yet to see that same color. I think at the time it was custom and had been owned by someone who had everything custom. Good memories in that car, yes, I was the blonde in the convertable that no one else had. Oh and the convertable top was electric and all you had to do was flip the locks and push the buttons, oh I loved to do that. And the convertable top was white, it was a very pretty car. And I am not fond of green at all, but this color green was different, expensive looking.

Open Eyes

[Tomjones]

I'd have one. I'd have one now.

Incidentally I also heard (and they tested it) that they made the windows not mist up, even if they were boiling a kettle inside.

[Sanada]

Ahhhh the VW...the one that 'Hitler' helped design.

(maybe the only thing that he did that was creative, he was an artist b4 dictator..lol)

Still a nice car.
S

[Tomjones]

Actually he wasn't a half bad artist. I have a painting of his saved on my laptop, shall have to post it when someone tells me how

[Timgt5]

Originally Posted by Tomjones

I'd have one. I'd have one now.

Incidentally I also heard (and they tested it) that they made the windows not mist up, even if they were boiling a kettle inside.

If you are willing to stomach the potential maintenance costs, I have seen some first year examples (2004) for 16-19K in autotrader, not bad for a large fully loaded high performance saloon for econocar money.

[madisgram]

ok well yes i'm a "little" bit older. i remember the beetle in the 70's. loved that car.