2004 Volkswagen Phaeton

Description

The Phaeton was conceived by Ferdinand Piëch, then chairman of Volkswagen Group, who wanted a car that would surpass the German prestige market leaders, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, in part as a response to Mercedes' and BMW's decision to compete in Europe directly with Volkswagen by introducing the A-Class and BMW 3 Series Compact. The Phaeton was also intended to support the Volkswagen brand image. Although the Volkswagen Group already had a direct competitor in the full sized luxury segment, the Audi A8, the Phaeton was intended to be more of a comfort-oriented limousine, like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Lexus LS, where the Audi A8 and BMW 7 Series are more sport-oriented. Initial development of the Phaeton, given the internal project code VW611, began with Piëch giving his engineers a list of ten parameters the car needed to fulfill. Most of these specifications were not made known to the public, but a number of them were told to automotive reporters.