Volkswagen culls flagship Phaeton
German car-maker to suspend production of VW limo at its boutique Dresden factoryVolkswagen has announced that it will end production next year of its flagship limousine to cut spiralling costs post-Dieselgate.
Production of the Phaeton began back in 2002 at a glass-walled plant in the city of Dresden in East Germany, where the luxurious sedan is assembled by 300 dedicated workers on a single production line built solely for the Phaeton.
Rumoured to have cost more than $1.5 billion to develop, the Phaeton has never met any of its sales targets and has been declared by many industry commentators as a very public flop, despite being a pet project of former chairman, Ferdinand Piech.
Once production ceases, VW says it will be re-configuring the small plant for an all-electric replacement for the Phaeton that should be on sale by 2019.
The Phaeton factory became famous for its glass walls, wood parquet flooring and workers who wear white uniforms and white gloves to assemble the large sedan, mostly by hand.
Volkswagen has announced that workers at the factory, who will be affected by the shutdown, will be offered the chance to commute 120km west of Dresden to VW’s Zwickau plant, where it builds the Golf and Passat.
The Phaeton plant had been at risk for some time dues to weak demand for VW-badged limousines.
According to newswire, Automotive News, output at the small Dresden facility had dropped to just eight cars per day.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
