"Dori A Schmetterling" haute in die Tasten:
I think that Bentley and Bugatti were mistakes, and the Phaeton carrys the wrong brand badge. To develop the best luxury sedan or the best supersports car in the world costs you an awful lot of money. And if you have done your task, you still have the problem of the nonexsistant brand heritage. When Fiat bought Ferrari, they bought more than the brand name. They bought the factory and the factory founder. So a today's Ferrari is a genuine thing, which breathes racing history, and that opens the wallets of the rich buyers (Because if you see it from a very rational point of view, a Ferrari is more a toy than a transport solution). So if VW makes a Bentley or a Bugatti, these cars are no real Bentleys or Bugattis. OTOH they do not feature enough product USP that one would buy one nevertheless. If Opel sells a Renault minivan (Master) under its own brand name, nobody really cares, but a local operator may prefer Opel, because the dealer is nearby and gives him special rates. But these reasons do not apply for high class buyers. Besides that the brand bugatti has been sleeping too long to really move something in the heart of today's buyers. If I were VW, I would have established the brand name Horch again. Horch has been a part of the Auto Union, which is one of the strong roots of today's VW group. Horch has a historical reputation for building luxury cars which were comparable to Mercedes and Maybach. I would have promoted the VW Phaeton under the brand name Horch Autobahn. This name is very german, although it should be understandable worldwide. I think it is no surprise that Toyota decided to sell their luxury cars under the brand name of Lexus. Besindes that a Phaeton is a four door open tourer, not a sedan with a steel roof. So this car carrys the wrong name.
Frank