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AUTO ENTHUSIAST
Long, sleek, luxurious, with a powerful 12-cylinder motor, Volkswagen's Phaeton W12 possesses all of the trappings of premium German long wheelbase sedans.
Regular Business Report readers know of my penchant for long wheelbase ultra-premium luxury sedans, and this Volkswagen is no exception. Although it would be my first choice for a Boulder to Las Vegas road trip car (and not just for its surefootedness when crossing a snowy Vail Pass), it also raises more questions than it answers. Including, who asked for a $105,615 "people's car" anyway?
Enter Ferdinand Piech, the former head of the Volkswagen Audi Group. Piech is a wellrespected engineer, an astute businessman and the grandson of one of Porsche's founders. he also ran Porsche's motorsports department, with huge success, for many years.
So Piech is used to getting what he wants, and what he wanted (he has since retired from his day-to-day duties) was for Volkswagen to begin competing with Mercedes-Benz, and there is no better arena for this than the premium luxury sedan segment. Sit back (in one of the Phaeton's rear 10-way power adjustable seats with air-conditioning ventilation, heat and massage feature), relax (with leg room galore, four-zone climate control and a premium 270-watt sound system including an in-dash six-disc CD changer) while we present Piech's bold experiment.
Although the Phaeton is built in a dedicated factory, it shares much of its powertrain, technology and general underpinnings with Audi's current A8L...