Named after Jupiter, the VW Phaeton was one of the most innovative, but underappreciated cars of all time. Powered by a W12 motor - two V6 engines mated together - Volkswagen created this behemoth in retaliation to something petty.
In the late 90s, Mercedes came out with with the A-Class, a car that directly competed against VW’s bread & butter - economy cars. VW wouldn’t stand for this & wanted to make a car that would compete with Mercedes’ bread & butter - luxury sedans.
Although VW owned Audi, who made the A8, it was more in line with the BMW 7 series - a sports luxury sedan focused more on driving dynamics vs. outright luxury. VW was aiming at more limousine like sedans - such as the Mercedes S class & the Lexus LS.
Chairman of VW, Ferdinand Piech, mandated that the Phaeton would be the most well built sedan of the time. There were ridiculous claims that he wanted the car to be able to drive over 150mph for 24 hrs straight in 122F degree temperature, while maintaining a lovely 72F cabin temperature. Bottom line, the car was going to be over-engineered.
Exclusively built in one of the most beautiful factories - The Transparent Factory- the Phaeton was offered in various engine forms & wheelbases, but for the US, we only received a V8 & a W12. Sharing the same platform as the Bentley Continental GT, the Phaeton was equipped with air suspension, 4Motion AWD, four zone climate control, & had over 100 individual patents. It was a VW halo car meant to bring the Germans to their knees.
Unfortunately, VW were the only ones brought to their knees. Reception of the Phaeton was confusion. VW was making a $80k car? The Transparent Factory had a building capacity of 20,000 units per year, but Phaeton production ultimately maxed at 6,000 a year. Popular in Germany, the US received less than 2700 cars in the 2 years that VW offered them.
Why were sales so bad? Was the car that terrible?
No. The Phaeton was actually an awesome car to drive. The tech was great. Interior were standard VW/Audi fare - neat, thoughtful, & modern. The engines were powerful - the W12 is a beast. Everything about the car was wonderful except the three things that make or break a car - price, marketing, & exclusivity.
At the time, the price of a V12 S600 Mercedes was around $120k. The price of a W12 Phaeton was $94,600. Thats a price delta of $25k, which brought you innovation and extreme engineering. Also, it wasn’t like the VW was poorly built. Why wouldn’t you get a Phaeton? It’s clearly more of a car.
Well, people chose the Mercedes for a few reasons, beyond exclusivity. VW didn’t realize that luxury sedan buyers are loyal to a fault, stubborn to realize that there may be superior quality elsewhere.
VW also didn’t realize that luxury brands groom their customer base from their most entry level cars all the way up to flagship cars. A buyer of an entry level VW is not aspiring to buy a VW flagship, unlike the buyer of an entry level Merc or BMW who DEFINITELY is aspiring to buy that brand’s flagship.
The VW Phaeton was a great car created in order to shake up the luxury sedan world like the LS before it. It didn’t work. You can’t fault VW for trying. The Phaeton remains a car that deserves a double take if you see one on the road. The great news is that they’re so cheap now.
It makes me wonder - there is more diversity and acceptance of non-conventional luxury sedans (Hyundai Genesis, Maserati Quattroporte, Porsche Panamera, Tesla, etc) today than in the past.
Do you think a brand like VW, an outsider, could introduce a car like the Phaeton in 2019 and be successful?