VW Said to Delay Revamp of $101000 Phaeton Sedan in Profit Push - swissinfo.ch
(Bloomberg) -- Volkswagen AG is delaying the introduction of the new Phaeton as the automaker seeks to improve returns on the slow-selling luxury sedan by lowering production and material costs, people familiar with the matter said. Even though a new version of one of VW’s least successful models is ready for production, the manufacturer is again reworking the Phaeton, which costs more than three times the mid-sized Passat sedan, said the people, who asked to not be... The 89,650-euro ($101,000) Phaeton, a pet project of engineering-obsessed former Chairman Ferdinand Piech, is an anomaly in VW’s lineup of pragmatic sedans, hatchbacks and SUVs. “There is always the element of the Phaeton being the answer to a question no one ever asked,” said Tim Urquhart, a London-based analyst at market researcher IHS Automotive. Piech, who stepped down in April after a power struggle with Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn, ordered development of the Phaeton to challenge VW engineers and take on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. The vehicle, which also competes with the A8 from Volkswagen’s Audi unit, started production in 2002 and has been largely unchanged since. While Mercedes sold more than 100,000 S-Class cars last year, VW made about 4,000 Phaetons, a drop of 30 percent. That’s the lowest volume for an existing VW production vehicle, including the Eos convertible, which is being cut. Source: www.swissinfo.ch
