New Volkswagen Phaeton should have gotten twelve-cylinder

The Volkswagen Phaeton has gone down in history as one of the most extraordinary projects that became reality under the leadership of Ferdinand Piëch. During the Piëch reign, Volkswagen became the owner of Lamborghini, introduced the mighty Bugatti Veyron, the retro New Beetle and developed special engines such as the W16, W8 and V10 and V12 TDIs. The ambitious Volkswagen Phaeton came on the market with V6 and V8 engines, but also with a crazy 5.0 V10 TDI and a 6.0 W12. In 2016, after 14 years, Volkswagen finally pulled the production plug from the not completely trouble-free top sedan and recently it showed how the never-appeared second generation Phaeton should have been. What seems? That would also get a W12.

Volkswagen Phaeton

The German Auto Motor und Sport reports that the new Volkswagen Phaeton, in contrast to the first generation of the sedan, should only have been built as a long version and that no short and long variant were planned. The new Volkswagen Phaeton would be available with a set of V6 petrol and diesel engines and there would also be a V8 TDI in the barrel for the European market. In addition, there was talk at Volkswagen about the arrival of a plug-in hybrid with petrol V6, but the absolute top model should have just got a W12 again.

Volkswagen Phaeton

The second-generation Phaeton never materialized due to Volkswagen’s focus on electrification, including the aftermath of Dieselgate. Especially for the Chinese market, Volkswagen did introduce the Phideon in 2016, a sedan placed on the MLB platform that never came to Europe. Only 360 copies of the first and only Phaeton were registered in the Netherlands between 2002 and 2014. The car had its best sales year here in 2005, when 69 copies set sail from Volkswagen’s ‘Glass Factory’ to the Netherlands.