Aug 20th, 2010 by Ross Edwards
The $85,000 VW Phaeton will be brought back to the United States. Volkswagen‘s flagship large sedan will be brought back to the U.S. at the model’s next complete redesign. The Phaeton is a high-end luxury sedan built to compete with the BMW 7-Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, as well as the A8 built by Audi, a Volkswagen subsidiary.
![2006 Volkswagen Phaeton The 2006 Volkswagen Phaeton sold so poorly that VW pulled the car from the U.S. market, but the company plans to give it another try, possibly in 2013.](http://blog.pricewheels.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/2006-Volkswagen-Phaeton.jpg)
The 2006 Volkswagen Phaeton sold so poorly that VW pulled the car from the U.S. market, but the company plans to give it another try, possibly in 2013.
The head of Volkswagen’s Dresden, Germany plant where the Phaeton is built says that the next generation of the Phaeton will be sold in the United States, according to Bloomberg. U.S. sales of the Phaeton were stopped in 2006 due to poor sales. Volkswagen has not set a date for the Phaeton’s redesign or its return to the U.S., but a German industry analyst said that the redesign will probably happen for the 2013 model year.
![2006 VW Phaeton A rear view of the 2006 VW Phaeton.](http://blog.pricewheels.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/2006-VW-Phaeton.jpg)
A rear view of the 2006 VW Phaeton.
The Phaeton has been a polarizing car since its debut in 2002. Audi‘s North American Chief Axel Mees was forced to leave the company after disparaging the Phaeton in an interview, claiming that he would never buy it because of it’s Volkswagen branding. Former VW CEO Bernd Pichetsrieder said that a global sales goal of 20,000 units per year was a “pipe dream” and pulled the Phaeton from the U.S. market in 2006.
Images via Volkswagen.