Next VW Phateon will return to the US

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I still think it is a weird move.
A few years ago, there were rumors about the next one being smaller and less expensive.
(Illustration of what the next one might look like above)

Now it seems that the next Phaeton will actually be a bit longer than the current model (Which was discontinued in the US in 2006)
It was pretty much a flop since VW had predicted 20 000 sales worldwide annually. Which turned out being about 6000.

In the US, it sold 1433 in 2004, and only 820 in 2005.
Compare this to the 4000 units for the Equus last year alone.

VW might want to sell something bigger and better than the Passat in the US.
But another Audi A8 based giant boring sedan isn’t going to change anything.

It will still be over $60 000, and will still compete with the big Audi.
And it will still be too expensive for a VW.

Why they refuse to change is amazing. Making the same mistake over and over…

Conversation 12 comments

  1. To whomever did this rendering of the next Phaeton….this is awesome. It's clean, gorgeous and makes me want one to keep my GTI company.

  2. "the next Phaeton will actually be a bit longer than the CURRENT model (Which was discontinued in the US in 2006)."

    HUH?

  3. The "current" model is till on sale in Europe, even though they stopped selling in in the US.

    And yes, that illustration does look great…

  4. Maybe if they cast it as a 300/Crown/Maxima/Genesis competitor.

    And Vince, if you have any control ove the type of Captcha used, the current ones are just painful on the eyes with their extreme blurs.

  5. I also think that this illustration looks great. I'm usually not a fan of the Volkswagen design, but this looks stunning.

    But to say Volkswagen makes mistakes over and over is a bit strange, because they are unbelievably successfull with what they are doing…here in Germany they have almost ousted every other mainstream car maker with Volkswagen, Skoda, Audi and to some extent Seat. I hate this trend, but sadly it has happened…

  6. The Phaeton was always a very nice vehicle but U.S. buyers simply can't comprehend 60k to 100k VWs.

    This particular rendering looks very nice mainly because it's pretty much a rip-off of the extremely handsome (new) Lincoln MKZ.

  7. Well if Hyundai can do it, I think it's worth another shot for VW. Just saying, VW has a more upscale brand image than Hyundai. Maybe the Phaeton just came at the wrong time, or it wasn't priced/marketed correctly. If VW copies Hyundai's approach, they could be onto something.

  8. That Turd Lincoln looks nothing like this rendering… Now I agree the XTS and Lincoln went to the same fashion school, but the caddy did graduate with the better grade point average.

  9. VW is totally delusional if they think luxury car buyers will be satsified with the terrible reliability and poor dealer experience that typifies owning one of their cars.

  10. Back in 2004, a 60k VW was way to close to the A8, not to mention the S-class and the 7 series. Today, there is plenty of room above the Passat which, fully loaded, can't touch $35k. The most expensive VW is the Toureg SUV, that can top $65k. A base A8 starts at $75k, so there's plenty of opportunity for VW to offer an executive sedan in that space without conflicting with Audi.

    Hell, no one with a brain can call the Equus a sales success. But if they can sell 4000 units of their crappy plastic fake knockoff luxury, then there's a lot of opportunity for VW to do offer areal premium sedan.

  11. Da big macheen she has to look like a big a shot. Dis one she works, so long as da grill she no look like da hother VW

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