VW Phaeton

[Bugatti Fan]

I have been looking at the VW Phaeton luxury car. A really nice motor car but the VW badge did not have the same cachet as BMW, Mercedes Benz and other cars in that luxury sector.

It would have been very interesting to see what the demand for that car would have been if VW had badge engineered it as a Bugatti as part of a range aimed at the senior management sector, instead of making elitist Bugatti super cars for the mega wealthy. Pitched against BMW and Mercedes in that sector I think that VW might have done a lot better using the Bugatti name on it.

The Bugatti name has a lot of history, particularly due to its sporting and luxury forebears that only the very wealthy could afford, and I guess that  VW saw the very wealthy as the most promising market for the name.

I watched a YouTube video of a Chiron struggling to come out of a London showroom across a kerb onto the road across temporary ramps so that the front end would not scrape the ground due to the minimal ground clearance. Wouldn't be wanting to drive the car along any roads with speed bumps.  Ouch!

 

[stitchdup]

I dont think the phaeton would work as a bugatti. its just not fancy enough for the bugatti name and sits below the audi a8 in terms of spec. Its a good car but even as a vw fan it always seemed like it was trying to be an audi and like you say, the vw name just isn't going to feature in many ceo car parks. a few folk i know in the vw scene think it was more of a production test for the engines as they got put in a lot of the vw group suvs when the phaeton went away. vw would probably use the audi a7/porsche panamera for a bugatti base. the platform is probably the most versatile for engine variety and has all the latest kit so offers more option for body and trim packages and its already used under the bentleys so we know it can handle a heavier  body

[iamsuperdan]

I worked for a VW/Porsche dealer when that car came out. We only received one of them.

It was an absolurely stunning car, however...it was doomed from the start.

About a year earlier, VW came out with the Passat W8. That was an fantastic car too, but people were very hesitant to spend $50k on a VW. That should tell you how long ago this was!

So then the Phaeton comes out, and it's like $80k CDN. For a car with VW logos on the front and back.

 

Hyundai were smart. When they first brought the Genesis line out, those cars didn't say Hyundai anywhere. No emblems, no logos, no badges. Just the Genesis logo.

I think if VW had done that, the Phaeton would have done better.

 

Asit stands, if I could find one for a decent price, I'd buy one now.

 

[sfhess]

They were impressive and really nice when they were new, probably big money pits these days.

How old are the newest Phaetons?

[iamsuperdan]

14 hours ago, sfhess said:

They were impressive and really nice when they were new, probably big money pits these days.

How old are the newest Phaetons?

In North America, it only lasted a couple of years. 2004 - 2006, I think.

In Europe, they got a couple of generations, and I think it ran until 2015 or 2016.