Oh great news. makes me very happy to get another shot at this awesome car!

I sure wouldn’t mind getting a used one of the all new model for hella cheap. Ha ha…

im sure its a great car but it seems like a lot of money for a vw. wonder why they’re thinking it will sell better next time around?

It didn’t work here in its current iteration last time, so my guess would be a return when the next generation model arrives.. something tells me that under the new VW regime, the next Phaeton will have much more pricing/platform differentiation from the next Audi A8.

I guess we’ll find out if VW can learn from its past mistakes. I’m not going to hold my breath on that though. Of course this could mean that in 2012 we’ll get another boom of failed, cheap, ultra-luxury VW’s in the used car market.

What a great car.

theyll either price the phaeton lower
or price the A8 higher
im guessing the second option… its already $15k less than an S550.

There are clearly some idiots on the VW board, but a lot of car companies have that. The Phaeton actually looked better before the midlife facelift though. Anyway, another 1 or 2 years on the US market, and back to Europe it goes, sucking ad money & production space that could have been used for cars people are looking foreward to, like the Scirocco, R32, A3 Cabrio, next A4, A5, TT, Beetle III, next Rabbit…

If they push Audi any higher then it will go against Mercedes/BMW. Thing is would you take a Audi over a Merc/BMW? I wouldn’t even if it was half the price.

Plus that idiot who gave the go ahead on the VW board to reintroduce this car and make the car in the first place was Ferdinand Piech (Grandson of Porsche Creator). All I can say is he is one hell of a engineer but has the business sense of a child. Also why buggatti make one million dollar lost per veyron and why volkswagen was so crap in the 90s/into new century.

WATCH FERDINAND PIECH RUIN WOLFGANG BERNARD COST CUTTING WORK (MAKING VOLKSWAGEN MORE AGILE AND PROFITABLE WITH BETTER CAR MAY I ADD) AND MAKE VOLKSWAGEN FAT, LAZY AND UNPROFITABLE AGAIN.

Bring it in fully loaded and with a great motor for under $50k and VW will sell more than 13/month, but if the fully loaded version is 80k like before, then VW is run by retards. My guess is the latter.

Gee Stuart, apparently you don’t remember the Leftlanenews article from not very long ago entitled “Audi to raise U.S. prices to match MB, BMW”. You have 2 comments in it.
http://www.leftlanenews.com/audi-to-raise-us-prices-to-match-mb-bmw.html

You guys seem to forget that the chassis and engines underpinning this also underpin the Audi A8 and Bentley Continental GT/Fly Spur. Those are some expensive parts to start producing a cheap affordable car on.

The whole point of this car from the start was to take on the Mercedes S-class. Who in their right mind would take the Audi A8 let alone this over a Mercedes S-class, I don’t know.

This would make for some interesting ‘UnPimp’ ads. My question is where is it actually supposed to be in the market? A Volvo S80 competitor? Acura RL? With their latest commercial boasting the Beetle, Jetta and Passat @ 17K (or something), even at $50K, this car falls in a grey area.

Now, if VW can get their service and sales departments for the Phaeton poorly straightened out. This automobile has immense understated luxury.

The Phaeton is a masterful car that far overreaches all but the best Mercedes and BMWs. It is a car that is sets much like the Tourag, too big for normal VW sensibilities in the country but not atypical of such an ambitious but steady company.

Great car.

I love VWs, but the dealership experience is not going to impress anyone.

I’ll bet he is refering to the 2009 car.

The car pictured here looks like a Ford 500 with a VW badge.

If they are building it anyway, why not send it to the US? Its already been developed for that market and the parts will mostly be available in the US network because of the mechanical similarities with Bentley and Audi.

I imagine this will have a high sticker price, and the dealers will have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. The cars will be sitting around unsold in Europe anyway, might as well have some sitting around unsold in the US as well

If your the director of a company that is making cutbacks and you want need a new car that doesn’t look too flashy, but don’t want to sacrifice any luxuries, what could be better than this? Perhaps the directors at FoMoCo could consider them.

a future model of the phaeton will be coming back to the US, but this refresh isn’t it. if you read the interview, the spokesman says when the “next version goes on sale.” that next version will be the full model change, not this refreshed version.

its a great car

horrible idea to sell it in the us

its a really expensive VW with a nicer interior. sounds like an audi to me

This is my list of favorites in this class, with #1 being highest:

1. Mercedes Benz S550
2. Audi A8
3. BMW 750i
4. Lexus LS460
5. Jaguar XJ8

I’m not entirely sure where the Phaeton would fit in there, but I’m pretty sure it would be #6. It just doesn’t move me, now I know it’s a good car, underrated, blahblah, but if I’m spending that kind of paper it’s got to be something I’m passionate about. The XJ8 just needs to be redesigned, the styling is too old school on the exterior, the interior is cramped and uses Ford parts bin, I can’t even believe it competes in the same class as those other vehicles.

i think VW needs to market this car better. i didnt know about it till they cut off production in the u.S.

A very nice car, tough competition though.

I have always thought the Phaeton was a beauty. I’m glad to see it come back. Has anyone else noticed that Kia copied the taillights for their Optima sedan???

its still a big passat.

anyclearer: So I guess the Bentley Continental GT is just a big car based on “big” Passat mechanicals..

Great News ! I hope they will bring the much need it V6 diesel as they sell it in Europe.

Hey LamborghiniZ, what Ford parts does the XJ use exactly? I didn’t know that Ford had anything in their lineup that would even be on par with the XJ!

Check out the youtube video on the Phaeton: http://youtube.com/watch?v=KmGNRMOpg7E

Even though this thing is boring looking, it is an amazing car. The W12 can do over 200 MPH. That puts it in a pretty elite club! It’s actually a stable-mate to the Bentley Continental GT.

So before you blow it off as a big Passat, how about giving it a tidbit of respect. And if you wan’t to race, it will whip your sorry rear end.

ClubF150.. Jaguar is owned by Ford.

Some Jags have been “prettied” up Fords, and that’s why they haven’t been that great (the new XK is it’s own car, thank you Callum).

Z,

Aside from the X-type, based on the Mondeo, which has been discontinued, as far as I care to know, what other Jaguars where based on FORDs? The S-type was the base for the Lincoln LS, NOT the other way around. The only good Lincoln in many years in my book, The XK and XJ are both Jaguar originals.

Am I missing anything?

Also, the Phaeton is A VW original. It is a platform not shared with any other car.. except maybe Audi. But this comes well after the Phaeton was launched. The only thing shared with any other divison, would be the W12, also a VW original.

Bentley makes there own stuff aside from engines in most cases. Bentley would drop dead in sells if anyone ever found out that they were buying or driving a dressed up cheap car. I mean I would look to sue if I found that out about my car that costs upwards of $300K or more.

But to be honest, I would be more likely to buy an Audi A8 than a Phaeton, if money where no object.

##Blakkarr## Either you don’t know much about the industry or just plain plainstupid. Notice that the chassis of the Bentley GT/Flying Spur are four wheel drive. Its a first for bentley becase all the others are RWD. Also notice that a Phaetom & A8 is a FWD/4WD.

The only reason A Audi A8 passed the feasability test was by selling other variants on the same chassis. Thats where VW and Bentley would come in otherwise they would make a loss on every Audi A8 as they don’t sell enough to justify production for it.

P.s. The chassis was design by Audi in the beginning then VW and Bentley adapted it as they needed

I think what VW ran into in North America is that uniquely North American perception that a non-premium brand can produce a premium vehicle. Remember that until recently, Lexus was simply Toyota elsewhere in the world, as Acura was simply Honda.

North Americans have a different perception, possibly due to years of the Cadillac/Lincoln brands, which, for the most part were standard Ford and GM products with landau roofs and opera lights, but were marketed under their own brand.

LamborghiniZ, what im saying is that the styling is very very plain and it looks like a big passat. There isnt anything about the exterior styling that says its a high end luxury car. Its just to plain looking for its price tag.

“If they push Audi any higher then it will go against Mercedes/BMW. Thing is would you take a Audi over a Merc/BMW? I wouldn’t even if it was half the price.”

I’ll take an Audi everytime. It has more style and attention to details even if it’s a bit overpriced given the durability. A nice toy if you’re planning to keep your car for no more than 2 years.

I am sure VW dealers are all ‘giddy’ over this news. IMHO the car will still struggle sales wise.

Excuse me Stuart, but I am not stupid. IF I am mistaken then say so, but otherwise get bent.

If you know anything at all about the Phaeton then you know who designed it. It wasn’t Audi or Bentley, it was VW. It was made as a parting shot by a VW exec for VW. You need to do your homework, chump.

Try to remember who OWNS Audi and Bentley. VOLKSWAGEN!! If you have to start throwing smack around, then get your facts straight first. VW made the Phaeton first and separate for everything else… Of course you’ll tell us next that the Touareg was developed by AUDI or Porsche and not VW next, right? VW is the fount from which nearly all of VAGs tech flows.

If you know nothing, say nothing and learn. Damnable big-mouth.

If VW answers a question no one is asking (again) in the forest, does it make a sound?

agree on previous comments regarding dealer experience. i am no longer convinced you can ask a consumer-level dealer to handle high end customers. my experience with vw dealers is strictly midrange, about what i get from a chevy dealer.

its just impossible for vw to expect their dealers to come up to the speed of a lexus dealer

Blakkarr, You really are that stupid. Thanks god Volkswagen doesn’t have people like you running the company otherwise they would be bankrupt by now.

Do you think Volkswagen would design the chassis knowing that Audi has years worth of experience whereas Volkwagen have NONE. Sure the Toureg was designed by Volkwagen doesn’t mean the Pheatom is. For god sake just sit and think even for one minute, who woul;d actually know anything about designing big car Audi or Volkwagen? The biggest car Volkwagen had ever designed was the Passat. Audi was always gonna be the mainstream and Volkswagen(Cheap)/Bentleys(Expensive) derivatives.

More then me I think you don’t just need to get your facts right but actually need to start using some common sense

Stuart, Go study up on what you are talking about before saying anything else. Really go look it up and stop espousing your opinions as facts.

Also you have the VAG roles Confused. VW is mainstream, Audi is luxury and performance and Bentley is ultra premium luxury.

anyclearer: Ahh, yes you’re right, style wise, that’s right on the mark, it doesn’t look luxurious at all. I suppose that’s the point of it though, to be a stealth luxury car, but I’m not a fan of those. I agree, boring styling, very plain.

ClubF150: I was referring to the interior bits and pieces in the XJ that are straight out of the Ford parts bin. Go look at some pictures, you’ll see what I mean. Same goes for the X-Type and S-Type, they have many buttons, pieces, etc that are clearly Ford parts. That’s all there is to it, and that’s a fact too, it’s not a secret they dipped into Ford’s parts for those pieces.

Blakkarr, Serously you have no dieas about business do you. Audi are mainstream in this segment because they have the badge to sell car in this segment. Volkwagen badge isn’t as strong to sell big cars so thats why they sell in limited number. What your preety much saying is that mass producers like ford dodge and chevy can sell car on level with premium sellers.

Use your brain for a minute and you understand why VW has Audi, Toyota created Lexus and Ford have Jaguar etc.
When was Ford trying to sell a 80k car, wonder why?

P.s. Audi is mainstream in the premium segment. Bentley is limited and Volkwagen is rare.

If eam3’s wit makes me smile to myself several days after he posts it, when no-one is looking anymore, its still funny