Want To Buy A VW? How Does $95,000 Sound?

[matcom]

<snip>



DETROIT (Reuters) - Volkswagen, the company long synonymous with the inexpensive Beetle, on Wednesday put a $94,600 price tag on ultra-luxury versions of its Phaeton sedan in the United States -- making it the highest-priced VW ever.

Europe's largest carmaker began selling a 335-horsepower V8 version of the Phaeton last November at a price of $64,600.

The 420-horsepower, 12-cylinder model, which VW touts as "the ultimate flagship of the Volkswagen brand," has only recently become available to U.S. car buyers.

At a base price of nearly $95,000, the Phaeton W12 is the most expensive VW ever, Volkswagen's U.S. subsidiary acknowledged in a press release.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=1&u=/nm/20040115/od_nm/autos_vw_phaeton_dc

[Kamika]

1. omg

I want one!

It looks better then a BMW

[GOPisEvil]

2. Let's see...for $95,000...I can buy a HOUSE...

I like nice cars, but what's the point...

[private_ryan]

24. exactly

and the house will be worth more 10 years from now. Unless you got enough money for both...

[underpants]

3. I tlooks like they designed it backwards

:shrug:

[Kellanved]

4. I don't understand the new VW policy

Outsourcing Audi and introducing own luxury cars. I mean I always knew VW as a middle-class-suburbia family kind of car; moving to luxury doesn't seem too smart to me. Especially as they had that market already covered with Audi.

And now the €80000 Touareq SUV and the Phaeton. :shrug:

[GOPisEvil]

6. I'm with you on that...

I thought it went something like this...

Volkswagen - cars for the masses, basic transportation with some niceties.
Audi - cars for rich folks who like sports cars, but need a rear seat.
Porsche - cars for rich folks who like sports cars and think back seats are for losers.

Talk about blurred lines...Porsche has an SUV...Audi has the TT...Volkswagen has the Phaeton...:crazy:

[Kellanved]

8. That's what you get, if you buy your CEO used from BMW

AFAIR they want to sell Audi, move VW to upper middle class/luxury and continue the lower middle class with Seat and Skoda.

[GOPisEvil]

9. Who the hell would buy Audi?

I mean, they're nice cars, but their dealership relationship (at least here in the US) is tied to VW and Porsche. You'd either have to continue that in some sort of weird way or branch off on your own. Either way is tough...strange. Volkswagen upscale? The people's car? Ferry Porsche must be spinning in his grave...

[Kellanved]

12. Good question

It might continue as Audi-AG with no VW ties. They're trying to get VW-dealers to stop selling Audis, so I guess they're expecting the break to occur soon.
Audi never was strong on the US-market since the AT marketing ****up.

As for Porsche: it has nothing to do with VW (except the Beatle design) here and sports one of the few openly LW CEOs in Germany. It isn't part of the VW-group.

[GOPisEvil]

14. As I think on this, you're right.

There are a lot of VW-only dealers now. Used to be they were all together on one lot.

Strange. I like Audis a lot. Too bad I can't afford the new ones. A friend of mine has a new A6. Very nice.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

34. You're right...

I can't speak German to save my life but doesn't Volswagen sort of mean "people's" wagen? Volks=people, right? I agree that I always got the impression that afford-ability was the point. Along with the discontinuance of the Beetle in MX, this besmirches VW in my eyes. $90,000 kinda puts the Phaeton out of the reach of most "Volks" I know.

[terryg11]

7. still putting out the Jetta and Passat

while I really like VW and Audi engineering, their price tags have really gone up. The Phaeton is a hell of a car I'm sure

[Kellanved]

10. it doesn't sell

They built that fancy all-glass factory in Dresden, but it hasn't much to do. If people want luxury they stick with Audi, Mercedes or BMW - why VW?


The Jetta is a car not offered in Europe; like many VWs for the US maket it is made in Mexico.

[GOPisEvil]

11. So there is no sedan version of the Golf?

That's what the Jetta is, isn't it? They look about the same until you get to the rear.

[Kellanved]

15. Ok - correction

It is named Bora and was introduced recently (Jetta was discontinued a decade or so ago).

And then there is the Golf Variant, a Golf wagon . It's not identical to the Bora Wagon.

[GOPisEvil]

16. Oh...you're right too...I think

There is a Jetta wagon...but there is also a 4-door Golf...

The Jetta Wagon


The 4-door Golf


I guess they aren't quite the same anymore. :shrug: They used to have the same front ends.

[Kellanved]

17. and one more comparison:

Golf Variant


Bora Variant



Strange to offer two cars that similiar.

[GOPisEvil]

18. OK - now that's just weird.

Maybe they're in a name-transition or something. Heck, when Golfs were first on sale in Europe, here they were called Rabbit.

[Kellanved]

19. exactly

I've compared the specs : they're almost identical. The bora is ca. one Inch longer and has less engines to choose from - that's it. And the Golf-insurance is cheaper, don't ask me why.

[GOPisEvil]

20. Ford kind of did this for a while too.

They had just introduced the Focus, but were still selling the Escort and Contour, which the Focus was replacing.

Oh, I saw a Ford Mondeo the other day. Someone apparently had it shipped back from Europe. It freaked me out - I had only seen them on TV.

[BlueJazz]

5. 420 horsepower ??

Christ, talk about overkill. Now you can drive behind the
average pokey driver and REALLY feel like a caged rat.

I love "muscle cars" myself but even with my 4 cylinder Ford Ranger
I seem to out-accelerate everything else on the roadway. When I drive my V6
it's just an adventure in being frustrated.

[Fleshdancer]

29. yep. Nothing like having 420 hp when stuck in bumper to bumper traffic!

I don't understand the lure of having this much "power" when the damn car is most likely going to be stuck in stop-start traffic during rush hour! People are so weird.

[BlueJazz]

31. Boy...tell me about it ..GloriaSmith..

I believe the thing I find extremely strange is the number of times
I've been stuck behind a car that has plastered (on the rear)
"V8 Magnum Power Hemi" and the people driving this amazing auto
drive like there's a Briggs & Straton lawn mower engine under the hood.

Just Freakin' Weird !

[BiggJawn]

13. "The ONLY car in america under $2,000..."

Lost sight of there roots, haven't they?

Maybe they should change their name to "ReicherBastardlastwagen"...

[CO Liberal]

21. My Father Bought a Brand-New VW Beetle in 1963 for $1,300

He could have bought 73 Beetles for the price of one Phaeton W12.....

[kskiska]

23. Same here. My mother bought a brand new one in 1961

Cherry red with a sunroof, around $1200.

[ScreamingMeemie]

22. The amazing thing about the International Auto Show this year is that

you walk around and every darn car looks the same, every darn truck looks the same, and so on....There isn't the difference in styling that used to make the brand. It was very depressing. :(

[Locrian]

25. VW is a funny company ....

I always though of VW as being a kinda counterculture type company. This is of-course was always a marketing ploy and its interesting to see where they are headed now.

Seems that a LOT of companies are now shifting to the upper class as profits and the contraction of lower class (much more people with much less money) and relative expansion of the upper class (few more people with a LOT more money).

Go over to the site www.clubb5.com

http://www.clubb5.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=424faf88e53d88b85f26ba0424d92c56

and lurk around their general discussion forums. Most are stereotypical young, intelligent (in terms of getting what they want) lots of money, and with few exceptions republican. Its sad.

[cosmicdot]

26. where's the 'Leave No American Consumer Behind' program?

'the rich get richer, the poor get poorer' gone wild

Perhaps a reason we didn't feel 'poor' growing up is that affluence wasn't so 'in your face' as it is today. Dunno.

"having money" was being able to afford a Chevrolet Impala.

[solinvictus]

33. Back then...

Imagine riding in a stylish Impala to a drive-in to savor prion free cheeseburgers.

[midnight armadillo]

27. Profit margins

Profit margins are higher on luxury cars while production costs aren't that much greater. Don't forget the economies of scale that are involved.

A Lexus ES300 is very similar to a Toyota Camry, sells for way more, and makes a lot more $ for Toyota than the Camry does.

The Phaeton will be pure profit for VW...if it sells, which I doubt it will in the US.

[chiburb]

30. They're only looking to sell 3000-3500 this year....n/t

.

[chiburb]

28. Speaking as a V W Passat driver...

The Phaeton is beautiful! I saw one drive by 2 days ago and was very impressed.
That said, IF I could afford one I think 12 cylinders is too much. However, I love my Passat and look forward to my next one in '06...

[CanuckAmok]

32. Sadly, I know someone who pre-ordered one.

And he still considers himself a 'pragmatic VW owner".

It reminds me of that classic line from "SLC Punk": "...Remember, son, I didn't sell-out, I bought in!"