All Cars, All the Time

Yoink! Phaeton Gets Pulled From the North American Market

Did it ever really stand a chance here? To be certain there are dedicated fans of this car, but they were in far too few numbers to matter for financially strapped Volkswagen. In my mind the Phaeton never made any sense as a Volkswagen. Certainly the car was very technologically advanced and such qualities mated with a premium brand would merit the price that Volkswagen wanted to charge. However, there were problems from the get go for the car. Firstly the styling was very conservative. I knew there was trouble when a Volkswagen executive claimed a considerable niche with folks who do not wish to display there wealth but wanted a high end luxury car. Many people may not want an extremely flashy car, but they are not opposed to an Audi or Lexus badge. The biggest flaw in the Phaeton's planning lies with dealers here in the USA. No Volkswagen dealer that I've ever visited has exuded the polish that is required to sell and service a top drawer luxury sedan. Hell, these folks couldn't even get me into a Passat. There was very little done in insure that Phaeton prospects were treated with the white glove service they were undoubtedly expecting. Combine staid styling and decidedly underwhelming customer service and you have very little to offer prospective customers. The question that I now have to ask is will something like the Phaeton ever return to our shores and should it? Berndt Pischetsrieder has publicly said that they Phaeton should have never been a staid sedan and one can extrapolate that any future high end Volkswagens released under his watch would be radically different. Given that Volkswagen could cook up some tasty looking dish;, does it merit inclusion on the US menu? I think a lot of that depends on the success or lack of that Volkswagen will have over the next few years in the US market. Something like the Phaeton should be a logical extension if a successful brand, a crowning achievement rather than a disconnected distraction for dealers struggling with flat demand. For the next few years VW needs to strengthen the its base and then slowly build upwards. The US market will see that GTI/Golf, and Eos next year and presently VW has started to subsidize leases for the Jetta and Passat to build demand. That should be enough for dealers to chew on for a little while. There is a new small suv headed our way, a forthcoming project Chrysler could yield a minivan and there is chatter about a possible pickup truck. Before Volkswagen attempts another Phaeton it had better pull a few more rabbits out of its hat.