Phaeton Phiasco

Last month, German auto maker Volkswagen announced that it would be withdrawing its once heralded ultra luxury sedan, The Phaeton, from the US market. This comes on the heels of a Wall Street Journal report that only 38 Phaetons were sold in the US in February. To put that in perspective, Ferrari sells about three times as many cars per month in the States.

The Phaeton fiasco didn't come as a surprise to anyone following this story. The Phaeton was a marketing and branding disaster from the day it was launched. In the US, the Phaeton was positioned directly against the Mercedes S-Class and the BMW 7 Series. The problem is that S-Class and 7-Series buyers are not going to plop down $90,000 to drive a car that's emblazened with the big VW logo. After all, Volkswagen means "people's car" not "rich SOB's" car.

But, aside from the lethal branding blunder, VW violated rule #1 in product marketing: never tempt the Gods. As many of you will remember from your Greek mythology class -- apparently this is not a prerequisite course in German high schools -- Phaeton was the son of the sun god Helios. One day, Phaeton asked his dad to take the family car (ok, it was a sun chariot) out for a spin. Dad reluctantly agreed but told Jr. to drive safely. Well, Phaeton being an exuberant youth without a driver's permit, got a little reckless and soon found himself hurtling out of the sky on a collision course with Earth. To save Earth and the universe from utter destruction, Zeus threw a thunderbolt at the chariot destroying Dad's wheels and instantly killing Phaeton.

And so with this as background, the VW braintrust gathered one day and, seemingly unware of the irony of it all, decided to name their new luxury sedan after the victim of a fiery car crash. Frankly, they had this one coming to them!