Volkswagen Moving Ahead With New Phaeton Despite Itself

the leaders at Audi want to drive Audis or Bentleys, but they can't. They have to drive VW's. The answer therefore must be to build a VW that classes with the Audis and Benleys for VW execs to drive. If they happen to actually sell a few of them on the open market, that's nice too, they guess.

@WSN VW is not the bottom of the group, more like middle. Something like: Seat-Skoda-VW-Audi-Porsche-Bentley-Lamborghini-Bugatti, with the last three being sold at obviously tiny volumes but gigantic prices. In the rest of the world, VW IS a premium brand, though not necessarily a luxury brand, they are not synonymous. To the traditional VW buyers in the US, I think this is probably the case as well, but that is not a mass market here - non-lux premium. In Europe Skoda occupies the segment that most on here think of when they think of VW - a cheapish basic car - "cars by the pound" relatively speaking. Seat is cheaper still, but decidedly sporty across their lineup.

@krhodes1 Hey krhodes1. If by rest of the world you mean Europe, I'd agree with you. However, in Brazil and I'm sure in many other parts around the world, VW is not premium. If the Europeans have really bought that notion fine, but not everyone else has. That to me is part of VW1s problem I think, they can't define even for themselves if they are or not premium. That being said I have no problem with this car and agree with you. If someone likes this car and won't buy it because it's a Volkswagen, then the problem is theirs not the cars. I remember the days when all mainstream brands had premium offerings that competed and did well. I wish those days would come again.

@Marcelo de Vasconcellos South America is kind of special for them though, no? They operated as pretty much a separate operation from Wolfsburg, selling a lot of locally produced and developed product that did not get sold elsewhere. Lots of unique to Brazil VWs, though they did export the Fox (Gol there, right?)here for a while as an entry level car. My '02 Golf TDI was Brazilian built, and very well put together. The predecessor to what they tried to do here with the Passat and Jetta, and a whole lot more successfully.

@krhodes1 Yes, South America is unique. But the Gol got exported everywhere, from the US to Russia, the Middle East to Mexico. I wager that in all these places they tried to sell it for a bit more than the competition, so I guess that's the premium. Some people accept that, some don't. As to Fox, I think it was the Voyage a Gol sedan, and I think you also got the Gol station wagon, called Parati here. But I don't think you ever got the Gol itself. And I think you are among the first here to actually like their Brazilian Golf. Lots here don't, but I would guess that most that disparage it talk more in theory than as an owner.

@krhodes1 So a "Gol" was a hatch, but the other versions got different names - interesting. The Fox was a 2dr or 4dr sedan or a three door wagon here. And yes, definitely a premium feeling car compared to the other cars in its price range back in the mid-80s, at a small premium in price. Big 1.8l motor. Friend of mine put 250K on one. Pretty archaic by the early 90s though, with no power steering or automatic available, they must have been a hard sell in a lot of places, but they sold well here in Maine. Very few on here have owned Golfs. The Jetta outsells it better than 10:1 in the States, and back then the Jettas mostly came from Mexico. I found the build quality of the Brazilian built Golf slightly better than the Mexican Jettas, but it was also different in a lot of details. Either seemed completely acceptable. Mine was a great car, wish I had been able to keep it longer. I have stayed in touch with the guy who bought it from me, it's still on the road in NY with a gazillion miles on it. I did some nice upgrades to that car, Euro headlights with fogs, leveling and the washer kit, the GTD instrument panel with trip computer, and rear fog light. First new car I ever bought. 50mpg easy on the highway, and quick too. I still miss that car - one that got away.

FractureCritical, WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER! Mitsubishi does the same thing in Japan. Mitsu elite businessesmen can't drive competitors cars so they license Nissans and badge them as Mitsus. They have a rebadged Infiniti dubbed their 2nd Generation Mitsu Proudia, which is an Infiniti Q70. Fun fact: The first generation Mitsu Proudia was a joint venture with Hyundai as the first generation Hyundai Equus.

What a nice thing to say, I'm sure your doublewide is much more impressive

Lie2me +1

@Lie2me He jelly. Personally, I think it needs more garage space.

I just want to extend some appreciation for calling my extremely modest sub-3,000sqft house a McMansion. Too bad you're probably a dude --- I'm looking for people who think things are bigger than they really are.

@Jack Baruth HAHAHAHAH

@Jack Baruth *slow clap*

@Jack Baruth It's OK Jack, your personality is HUGE!

@krhodes1 +1

@krhodes1 If that's anything like those blind dates you were told had "great personalities" Jack's in big trouble

@Lie2me How about all those girls who were washing their hair that night?