Ferdinand Piech wanted the best for his pet project since day one.
Volkswagen is the “people’s vehicle”, but the Phaeton was not. Only a small market could afford the luxury barge designed to compete with the Mercedes S-Class. Ferdinand Piech’s flagship sedan was a financial disaster. The car failed to reach its original goal of selling 20,000 units per annum. According to a Bernstein Research analysis, VW lost approximately EUR28,101 per car sold. This amounts to close to EUR2 billion ($2.17B) over its entire life cycle.
Although the Phaeton was discontinued around four years ago, there are still interesting details about the high-end sedan that was produced at Transparent Factory (Glaserne Manufaktur), Dresden for 14 years.
Top GearThe magazine met with Klaus Bischoff, Chief Designer at VW Group to find out that the Phaeton was very expensive to develop.
Piech, a former VW Group chief executive, wanted the best for his project. Piech was shocked when Bischoff showed him an interior mockup. Bischoff was inspired to think of something better to impress his boss and decided to create it. He did, and he returned with a more complicated interior mockup that is still the most expensive ever created by the VW Group.
Bischoff continued to say that they created a functional mockup of the Phaeton’s exterior and interior. Piech was astonished to see the revised car mock-up. Bischoff stated to Top Gear, “believe me that that was the greatest compliment you could receive,” and added that it was “the best experience of my life.”
VW had intended to launch the second generation of its flagship vehicle, but Dieselgate halted the plans. However, in October 2015, VW said that it would be releasing a new Phaeton as an EV that can reach high-ranges with an “emotional” design. It remains to see if this will happen. The VW Group already has plenty of premium electric sedans, such as the Porsche Taycan or the Audi E-Tron GT.