Volkswagen delays Phaeton

The all-new replacement for the Volkswagen Phaeton limousine has reportedly been delayed to lower production costs and boost profits from the German giant's slow-selling flagship sedan.

According to Bloomberg sources, the new Phaeton
is still largely made by hand on its own assembly line at a special
factory in Dresden by workers wearing pristine white uniforms and white
gloves.

It’s not known how long the Phaeton, which was originally set to go on sale early next year, has been delayed by but the report states the VW limo will not go on sale until
material costs are reduced and production efficiencies introduced at the
manufacturing facility.

It’s unclear how much money Volkswagen currently makes (or loses) on every Phaeton it sells, but it’s believed that internal targets are focusing on introducing a six per cent margin on the all-new luxury sedan that, incidentally, costs three times as much as a Passat sedan.

Originally created to satisfy former VW Group chairman Ferdinand Piech, the current car, which first went on sale back in 2002, was created to cruise comfortably at speeds of 300km/h.

Last year Volkswagen sold just 4000 Phaetons globally -- 30 per cent less than in 2013. Mercedes, meanwhile, sold 100,000 S-Class sedans.

The next-generation Volkswagen Phaeton will come with an all-new plug-in hybrid powertrain that could see the VW limo produce as much as 300kW but average just 1.5L/100km and emit less than 50g/km of CO2.

To reduce costs the new Phaeton will also share more parts than ever with the Audi A8 and be based on the MLB Evo platform that underpins the recently launched Audi Q7.