Phaeton Phactory

Since we had a discussion about Phaetons not so long ago on here, I figured this video might be interesting:

http://www.flixxy.com/high-tech-car-factory.htm

Please watch this, even if you don't care about the Phaeton (like me ). This is unbelievable. Would love to see what this pet project cost VW and whether they'll ever be able to make a profit on this plant and car.

 

Isn't the Panamera also build there?
I thought I read it somewhere.

 

If so, it wasn't mentioned in the report.

Did you watch the video? Isn't that just the coolest "factory" you have ever seen? Even before they mention it in the video I was thinking of a Bond villain's play house.

And all the tree huggers are about to keel over at the sight of the electric tramway delivering the JIT parts.

 

And I thought the factory in Maranello was something special, this place makes it look other wise.

 

I remember the Bugatti factory built by Artioli and how impressive it looked but this VW "Glass House" takes the cake.

 

Here is a picture of the one I owned. The car was perfect and SOLID! The Bentley is built in the same factory as the Phaeton. If they produced the Phaeton again and I needed a road car I would buy one again. I was VERY happy with the car. Put 40k miles on it with few problems. Excellent car for cross country travel. You can drive the car for 10 hours and it would feel like 10 minutes. Mine was the W12 version.
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Great video

 

Saw a Phaeton at Ed's a couple of years ago and I loved all of the interior lighting; dash etc.

It was nice to see the 'Beetle' on the Straße des 17. Juni. Andreas, I'm sure you remember when the 'Wall' was just east of the Gate. It's such a pleasure to see it no longer stands!

Just reminiscing.

Sparky

 

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing!

 

The Panamera is built in the Porsche Leipzig factory originally the home to Carrera GT production and I believe Cayenne production has been transfered to that factory.

 

You are right!
I knew it was somewhere in former DDR ,just confused the exact location.

 

Here a couple pics from 2008 from either side of the gate. I took the pic on the insert over 25 years ago.
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Anybody else notice the Bentley around 5:40?

(Look in the lower left corner)
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Interesting.

BTW: Can somebody explain to me what this light tunnel is for? They say to check the paint, but what can you do at this point where the vehicle is assembled? Buff and wax? Airbrush? Shouldn't this kind of test be applied to the unassembled pieces?

This was just one of the moments in the tape where I was questioning the practicality of what we see and whether this factory isn't more of a marketing gimmick than actual innovation.

Other doubts I had were over the practicality of using the tramway for parts instead of delivery trucks (size constrictions) and the James Bond like robots coming up from underneath the floor to mount the drivetrains. Looks very cool, but is it necessary to hide those bots during half the time?

It felt a bit like overselling:

"Look how cool our factory is. If it is that much ahead of its time, the car we're building in here must be as well and something truly special."

...which of course is the Phaeton's biggest problem: Lack of acceptance as a high end car/product because of its badge.

 

I just noticed this comment, explaining why there was a Bentley in the video.

 

The paint finish on my Phaeton and other Phaetons I have seen is flawless. When my car was clean it looked like a blue chrome Christmas bulb. I to this day have not seen paint quality that good. I did have a problem with the finish on the B pillar's. VW replaced them on my car and many others. I think it was more of a design issue with the way the car shed rain/water.

 

My best guess is there may be slight imperfections with the paint that can only be noticed under certain light conditions, i.e. a slight change in hue or something of that nature?

 

Impressive eye! Here's a better clip of it.. Also the 3rd one down looks like a BFS too.
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The Phaeton is as good as the FS. No joke. way understated car. The W12 version of the Phaeton was 120kUS$ which is a substatial savings over a FS. Look at the dash in a FS and the dash in a Phaeton, very similar.
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I haven't watched the video yet, but I've always been a fan of the Phaeton. Too bad it never really caught on

 

Yes it is too bad as I would have bought another one. They are VERY good cars and excellent for traveling. Big bonus is the AWD system. 130 in the car felt like you were crawling and the car was a quite as a bank vault!

 

I always liked the Phaeton as well. Only reason it didn't catch on was the little VW badge on it. I heard a rumor they might bring it back, I know they still exist out in Europe.. Wonder whatever happened to that rumor..

 

Here we go..

"Looking ahead, VW has said it may bring the Phaeton luxury sedan back to the U.S. with a clean diesel powertrain. Introduced in 2003, the Phaeton, which was powered by a choice of a V-8 or a 12-cylinder gasoline engine, was pulled from the market in 2007 after slow sales. "

 

Why'd you sell it, Steve? For a car so solid, 40k is barely any mileage.

Sharp eyes!

I would assume that the light tunnel is simply for the detailers to get a good look at the car for final cleaning before delivery.

^ Looks like you'll get a chance to have another one after all, Steve.

All the best,
Andrew.