Volkswagen, Europe’s most successful car manufacturer, enters Australia’s prestige market segment with the launch next April of the beautiful Phaeton sedan.

Powered by a 4.2-litre V8 engine - driving all four wheels via a six-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission plus Volkswagen’s 4MOTION system and featuring a continuously variable four-wheel air suspension - the Phaeton brings a fresh, dynamic style to the prestige sedan segment…and a range of luxury, performance and safety features that more than match its German, British and Japanese segment rivals.

Volkswagen Group Australia has chosen the long-wheelbase (LWB), V8 powered Phaeton model, featuring extra rear legroom and the most comprehensive level of features.

Put simply, the Australian specification Phaeton is everything Volkswagen does, done all at once. There are no ‘optional extras’ available.

Styling is unique, fuss-free and powerful, allowing the Phaeton to stand-out from its segment rivals. ‘Imposing’ is the term that best describes Volkswagen’s first prestige sedan – Phaeton is actually one of the largest vehicles in the segment, with the LWB version stretching to a full three metre wheelbase.

Volkswagen Group Australia is supporting the Phaeton with an appropriate after-sales and service operation that includes personalized pickup/delivery, Phaeton loan cars and other benefits.

The Phaeton was conceived by Volkswagen’s former Chairman, Dr Ferdinand Piech, and his brief to the design and engineering teams was to produce the world’s best luxury car.

To boldly announce the Phaeton and distinguish it from the rest of the Volkswagen range, the company invested €186.62 million in a magnificent new production facility in the German city of Dresden exclusively to manufacture the company’s first prestige sedan.

Not just any factory, the ‘Transparent’ factory (because of its 27,500 square metres of glass walls) is one of Germany’s most recent architectural triumphs and is actually located in a tranquil setting next to the city’s botanical gardens. In fact the Transparent factory hardly resembles a car plant at all – the manufacturing area sits on 24,000 metres of maple parquetry floors and the operations are virtually silent as each Phaeton is assembled by a small team of craftsmen.

The city of Dresden is famous for its chamber orchestra and opera house – when they suffered during the floods last year, both were relocated to the Phaeton ‘Transparent’ factory for its ambience and acoustic qualities.

“Clearly Volkswagen has delivered a product that more than matches the world’s best,” explained Volkswagen Group Australia’s Managing Director, Mr Peter Nochar. “And we know that to successfully market the Phaeton in this segment, we must deliver the sort of sales, service and after-sales experience demanded by prestige customers.”

One luxury feature unique to the Phaeton is the 4-zone Climatronic air-conditioning that enables the driver, passenger and rear seat passengers to individually adjust the temperatures in their own separate ‘zones’. The cooling or warming air is then directed draught-free via automatically closing and opening emitters (with indirect ventilation via fine Chestnut wood faceplates).

Every Phaeton’s four-door galvanized steel bodyshell is manufactured (with precise laser-welding) at Volkswagen’s state-of-the-art plant in Mosel, Germany and transported by a unique CarGoTram (an 18 minute journey) to the Dresden facility. Here they are matched to the aluminium boots, bonnets and doors.

The result is class-leading body rigidity – a major factor in both active and passive safety.

In addition, the use of aluminium sandwich construction, a new form of window guidance profiles and the decoupled suspension/drivetrain design results in the Phaeton setting new standards for interior quietness.

Ride and handling of Volkswagen’s high performance prestige sedan is startlingly good – a credit to the standard four-wheel air suspension which combines with the four-link front suspension and independent rear suspension with trapezoidal wishbones, best-in-segment bodyshell stiffness and best-in-segment braking performance.

The air suspension has driver-selected ride heights (auto, high and low) and four damper configurations (auto, comfort and two sport settings). The damper control is based on the so-called ‘sky-hook’ principle which minimizes body movements in all situations (such as anti-dive in braking and anti-squat in acceleration).

Other safety/performance features standard on the Phaeton are: ESP (electronic stability program), brake assist, ABS (anti-lock brakes), EBD (electronic brake force distribution), TCS (traction control system), four electronic differential locks and EBC (engine braking control).

Safety features include eight airbags and active head restraints.

Inside, the luxury and equipment of the Phaeton matches the elegance and technological beauty of the bodyshell – the interior materials used, technical solutions for driving performance and comfort, the gorgeous design and generous dimensions deliver an exclusive ambience which is undeniably Phaeton.

Seats are finished in beautiful Vienna leather and the fronts feature 12-way electric adjustment and massage function.

Wood trim in the interior is a light-coloured Chestnut and the premium 12-speaker audio system has 12 amplifiers and a Digital sound processor. There is also a rear DVD player with large-size screen.

Everywhere you look, the Phaeton is a luxury/technological masterpiece…even the boot which has beautifully machined aluminium hinges. Capacity is huge – 500 litres, enough to take the golf team and their clubs away for the weekend.

The Phaeton will be available in April 2005 from all Australian Volkswagen passenger vehicle dealers. Two firm orders have been held for some time.