Photo: Theophilus Chin
Volkswagen has all but stopped development of the all-new Phaeton while it waits for Dieselgate to spend its destructive powder. So even though the current generation model is as old as the VCR, a replacement might take until the end of the decade to arrive.
That being said, the automaker has every intention to build another sedan. Before the TDI scandal burned through all their cash, engineers wanted to make not only the Phaeton but also another 4-door that fits between it and the Passat.
That's why they showed two concepts this year, first the C Coupe GTE and then the Sport Coupe GTE. Volkswagen almost never makes a design study just for the sake of it, so there's probably a pre-production prototype sitting in an underground bunker in Wolfsburg or Shanghai that looks just like this rendering.
Theophilus Chin was inspired by the C Coupe from Auto Shanghai. We struggle to imagine anybody would pick a car that looks like this over the Mercedes S-Class or BMW 7 Series. However, VW owners are among the most loyal people, and a few of them might have enough cash for an upgrade.
According to previous reports, the Phaeton is being developed on a platform shared with the Audi A6’s successor. That gives engineers room to install the all-new V6 engines… that they don't yet have. Of course, the Vdub swag wagon is expected to go much, much bigger. Instead of letting Bentley write the press release, the German automaker took all the glory when it showed the world an all-new twin-turbo 6-liter W12.
The Phaeton is not like the Eos or Scirocco. It's so big, powerful and expensive that it cannot be killed. Sooner or later, they are going to give the Chinese a brand new model, and it will speak every dialect, know how to drive by itself, and produce zero tailpipe gases. The only question is when.
That's why they showed two concepts this year, first the C Coupe GTE and then the Sport Coupe GTE. Volkswagen almost never makes a design study just for the sake of it, so there's probably a pre-production prototype sitting in an underground bunker in Wolfsburg or Shanghai that looks just like this rendering.
Theophilus Chin was inspired by the C Coupe from Auto Shanghai. We struggle to imagine anybody would pick a car that looks like this over the Mercedes S-Class or BMW 7 Series. However, VW owners are among the most loyal people, and a few of them might have enough cash for an upgrade.
According to previous reports, the Phaeton is being developed on a platform shared with the Audi A6’s successor. That gives engineers room to install the all-new V6 engines… that they don't yet have. Of course, the Vdub swag wagon is expected to go much, much bigger. Instead of letting Bentley write the press release, the German automaker took all the glory when it showed the world an all-new twin-turbo 6-liter W12.
The Phaeton is not like the Eos or Scirocco. It's so big, powerful and expensive that it cannot be killed. Sooner or later, they are going to give the Chinese a brand new model, and it will speak every dialect, know how to drive by itself, and produce zero tailpipe gases. The only question is when.
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