Audi R8...Anyone seen this yet

[tony]

Very good point! The Phaeton in theory should sell because its the same damn car as the Bentley Flying Spur without the looks, but we know it doesnt.

[DeutscheBAG!]

Very good point! The Phaeton in theory should sell because its the same damn car as the Bentley Flying Spur without the looks, but we know it doesnt.

it sells in europe, but here in America has a different marketplace mentality - in that car segment, a lot of people want to buy badges, status symbols, rather than engineering. In the USA, folks pay extra to get all the badging on their Lexus gold-plated by the dealership. In Europe, folks won't take delivery of the car until the dealership removes the badging from the back of it.

The problem for the Phaeton in the US is that it's a VW. Period. The market won't accept a VW as a luxury marque, in part because of VW's other non-luxury offerings, and because the dealer network is not set up to handle the white glove service requirements of that market.

There's a reason that Honda, Toyota, and Nissan all set up different brands to handle their luxury car lines VW already had Audi that could fill that role in the US, and I can only assume that it was Piech's ego that pushed the Phaeton as a VW branded vehicle.