The Volkswagen Phaeton is no longer available for purchase on the United Kingdom market. The full-size German sedan has been taken off the UK market because its engines do not comply with the imminent implementation of Euro 6 emissions regulations so Volkswagen won’t be able to sell the model anymore. This shouldn’t come as a big surprise as the Phaeton was never really a hit as it didn’t hit its annual sales target of 20,000 units in its long lifespan which started way back in 2002. It received some facelifts in 2007 and 2010 but those didn’t really help that much.
Surprisingly, the Volkswagen Phaeton is about to get a second generation and will be introduced in the following years and sold in Europe, Asia and United States. The model is bound to grow in size but this will not increase its weight as adopting an all-aluminum body will actually make the Phaeton lighter than it is now.
The company’s development chief Heinz-Jakob Neusser said a while back that it’s going to be a “class leading” vehicle while some previous rumors stated that Volkswagen wants to make the second generation Phaeton more comfortable than the mighty Mercedes-Benz S-Class. It could also be offered with semi-autonomous driving technology and many other high-end features you would normally find in an Audi.
Source: Volkswagen
