VW Phaeton finds love at last in China

By Martin Bensley

If Volkswagen patriarch Ferdinand Piech had been properly clued up on Greek mythology, he might well have come up with a more auspicious name for VW’s Phaeton, the company’s first and so far only luxury saloon.

There was much sniggering 10 years ago when the main brand of Europe’s biggest carmaker opted to call this car the Phaeton after a wayward youth of legend who ignored his father’s advice not to go off bounds and was struck down after courting disaster.

Critics also said nobody would buy an executive sedan from Volkswagen, a brand whose name in German means “People’s Car” and whose reputation is based on humdrum models for the masses.

Ten years later VW is having the last laugh. The Phaeton of Greek mythology was the son of Helios the sun god. He was destroyed by a thunderbolt from Zeus when the sun chariot he was piloting threatened to burn the earth to a crisp.

VW’s Phaeton limousine, on the other hand, is alive and well and has turned out to be not the white elephant it could have been. The roomy car is a hot seller in China and the bosses at the Wolfsburg headquarters in northern Germany have no intention of dropping it from the range. Used examples are sought-after in Germany, partly because the discreet styling combined with reliable technology lends the car a timeless appearance.

The Phaeton enjoyed the second of three facelifts in 2008, confounding pundits who had long predicted its demise. Not only that, sales suddenly picked up. Until then around 6,000 Phaetons a year had found buyers. In 2010 the number had increased to 7,500 and by 2011 a record 11,000 examples of the car were sold.

Figures like this are peanuts for volume maker VW yet they showed that Piech’s odd name choice does not deter buyers.

Owners speak in glowing terms of the Phaeton, which is engineered to a high standard, while testers lauded the powerful engines, ranging from the standard V6 diesel unit up to a 12 cylinder with a strapping 420hp.

Car expert Tiff Needell sampled the top-of-the-range Phaeton for an edition of the UK car magazine ‘Fifth Gear’, describing it as a “hugely accomplished car that does Volkswagen proud.”

He did note though that while the Phaeton was on a par with equivalent BMW and Mercedes models, it did not accomplish anything better than they could.

A reviewer for the online edition of Germany’s Spiegel news magazine, however, was underwhelmed by the car.

 “There is just no air of noblesse about the Phaeton. The proportions are large but in no way impressive. It just looks like an overblown Passat — the VW emblem on the back does not help add much either, even if it is the size of a pancake.”

The two-and-half-tonne limousine was available with a big block 10-cylinder diesel motor — a world first. This prompted Britain’s Autocar magazine to remark on the “mean-edged rumble” before “the Phaeton stampedes forward with the effortless momentum you only feel when a real heavyweight defies physics.”

While bemoaning the long-wheelbase car’s lack of style, the British testers praised the “plutocratic” rear-legroom and the Phaeton’s ability to gobble up the autobahn miles effortlessly. The origins of the Phaeton go back to a 1999 design study, the D1. It took Volkswagen two years to turn this idea into a production car and they even went to the trouble of designing a factory in Dresden just to make the model.

The “Glaesernde Manufaktur”, which literally means “the factory made of glass” in German, opened in 2001. It is located on the edge of a green park, just 10 minutes’ walk from the River Elbe and the historic centre.

VW says the plant is a vision of how industry can co-exist with other walks of life, rather like the Meissen porcelain plant a few miles north of Dresden. Visitors to the “transparent factory” are struck by the atmosphere of calm and Teutonic orderliness at the facility which is more akin to an operating theatre.

Thanks to the masses of glass, onlookers can see the suspended bodies of the Phaeton glide from one elegant assembly stage to the next. Robots are used sparingly.

According to VW, these technical assistants are only deployed “where they relieve the strain on the workers, for example to fit the windows or install the spare wheel well.”

Although the Phaeton suffered from bad press for much of its run, this underrated flagship has recently gained a new lease of life, thanks to VW’s strong performance in the growing Chinese car market, now the world’s largest.

China is now the chief market for this limousine although the company is cagey about just how many customers signed on the dotted line this year for a Phaeton in showrooms throughout the People’s Republic.

According to Germany’s respected Auto Motor und Sport motoring gazette, production in Dresden has been increased to two shifts and 100 extra employees have been recruited in order to cope with increased demand.

Long-wheelbase models with gas-guzzling six- and eight-cylinder petrol engines go down particularly well with Chinese buyers who seem to have fewer qualms about the environment. The Phaeton is the fifth most popular luxury limousine in China and independent industry sources say 1,190 of the model were shipped there in 2011 — more than were sold by dealers in Germany over the entire period.

The Phaeton faces stiff competition in China where Mercedes-Benz is definitely top dog.

The Stuttgart maker apparently sold many more of its ultra-luxurious S-class along with Bavarian manufacturer BMW with the 7-series limousine.

Audi’s heavyweight A8 took third place ahead of the General Motors-owned Cadillac whose Seville has been re-engineered for the Chinese market.

Industry experts are puzzled at the success of the big VW in China compared to Germany where dealers are forced to offer a heavy discount on the list price in order to lure customers. Volkswagen stopped selling the Phaeton in the United States after sales were so poor.

Dull but worthy Chinese-built VW Santana saloons established the Wolfsburg brand’s reputation for solid reliability in China and plenty of them are still in use as taxis.

The Chinese grew up with Volkswagen models from the Beetle to the bread-and-butter Golf and for many an upwardly-mobile executive ascending the career ladder there is perhaps an attraction in buying the familiar badge. — DPA