Has the Phaeton been discontinued?
1 Answers
The Phaeton was discontinued in 2016. Reasons for the discontinuation of the Phaeton: 1. Low production volume and poor sales. Due to high technical requirements, production was limited, and low sales led to massive losses. The profit per vehicle was negative at €28,100 (approximately ¥205,000 RMB), with a loss rate as high as 40%. Since its mass production in 2002, the Phaeton alone caused a cumulative loss of €2 billion (approximately ¥14.59 billion RMB) for the Volkswagen Group. 2. Poor sales and severe losses resulted in slow updates, with the model being sold for 13 years. Moreover, competitors like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series, and Audi A8L had superior performance, making the Phaeton less competitive in its class. 3. Impacted by Volkswagen's 'Dieselgate' scandal and the resulting massive fines. 4. Ferdinand Piëch, former Chairman of the Volkswagen Group Supervisory Board, resigned from his position.