zak8957

Hi,

In today's German magazine Spiegel there's a very interesting article about Volkswagen delaying the release of a new A8 generation because it would hurt the VW Phaeton release.
Other highlights of the article:
- The all-new A8 is ready-to-go, but held back because of the Phaeton.
- The new Audi CEO Winterkorn was previously at VW and responsible for the Phaeton. He remains loyal to VW.
- The A8 is lighter and has better engines than the Phaeton.
- VW's W8 engine has not enough power and consumes too much according to Audi engineers, that's why they hold on to their own V8 to be used in a top-of-the line S4.

The article can be read at
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,196653,00.html

This is the article machine-translated by FreeTranslation.com. The grammar is horrible, but still beats reading German for you guys, I guess.

Because the luxury-VW Phaeton should shine alone, the series ripe A8-successor of the combine daughter Audi may not yet on the market. The designers in Ingolstadt are upset. Usual luxury vehicles regulate the speed electronically for German production to 250 kilometers per hour. Also the new VW Phaeton gets this automatic barrier. With one of the prototype, it was removed however recently. The combine boss himself insisted on an extreme test. Shortly before its change into the supervisory board, the VW-CEO Ferdinand Piëch tested the Phaeton personally and ultimativ - with a Vollgas-force ratio through Dubai. The low traffic in the country allowed it that Piëch was able to chauffeur the Phaeton in 50 degrees Außentemperatur 40 kilometers far with about 290 km/h through the desert. Satisfactorily he assesses: "the water temperature remains constant in 90 degrees." Also the passenger remained in perfect temperature. The Phaeton is alleged the first car of the world with which the sensitive Porsche-grandson not disengages the air-conditioning. Instead of biting cold air out of few Belüftungsdüsen, the Phaeton produces an "air veil" that penetrates softly out of a multitude of little openings. The high complex air condition is only one of numerous detail solutions, with which the first luxury-people vehicle should win customers most demanding. It was is goal of the designer of creating a car, that comfortableer than the Limousinen of the S-class of Mercedes and in the Handling at least so fahraktiv as well as the Siebener of the competitor BMW. The car body of the Phaeton floats on an air resilience, whose mute hardness electronically is driven at each wheel individual and stufenlos. With a trick switch at the instrument panel, the driver can set priorities general at the same time: by very yield to the brettharten mode "sports 2" that should change the Phaeton into a type Riesenporsche. Such expense costs. Of the original plan, the vehicle preislich far under the established competitor of Mercedes and BMW to platzieren, is VW a long time abgerückt. Around 20 percent, Piëch originally wanted to underbid this and would make declared, it "joke to undertake" itself that. It is not arrive. To prices from 56,200 euros, the Phaeton will come comparably motorized on the 31 May into the trade - just once eight percent under one S-class. Nevertheless that will control super-VW one something reason equipment better. The largest competitor of the Phaeton - and with stood off most favorable luxury vehicles of German production - comes calculated however of the VW-daughter Audi: there one gets the representative (and of chancellor Gerhard Schröder preferred) A8-Limousine already from 47,450 euros. In good negotiation skill moreover another stately discount lets obtain; for the 1994 introduced vehicle is into the years come itself and in the mean time heavily marketable. A successor would be available. The new A8 is already ready for production, may however not yet on the market. And that owed Audi calculated the Phaeton. People vehicle more boldly got into follows into the luxury class a highly unfavorable timetable. Almost simultaneous in the combine two new luxury vehicles become finished. And the looking over now unambiguously the daughter in Ingolstadt has. Into the maintenance man bow pressed, grease the Audi-designers in stiller fury. Yet to the year change, they had worked on high tours in order to keep the timetable issued by the earlier Audi-boss Franz-Josef Paefgen. Middle July, so the specification, should be presented the new A8. Yet with Piëchs departure, numerous executive functions in all combine signs newly were distributed. Paefgen, that most successful sign boss in the VW connected-was recalled surprisingly to the comparatively insignificant sign Bentley. At its place, the earlier VW-boss developer stepped and Piëch-pupil Martin Winterkorn that had been responsible until finally for the Phaeton. Scarcely Winterkorn had received the control of Audi, the timetable for the A8-release was already wastepaper. The presentation in the July fell - officially out of budget-reasons - abruptly flatly. Until short before the sale start in the autumn it should be quiet around the new large Audi. The ambush game wurmt the Audi-engineers umso more because they are convinced therefrom to have the "far More innovative car" how a leading designer explains. In two important criteria, the new Audi A8 will be the Phaeton undoubted superior - to the light construction and the power train. The Phaeton became intended not only more expensive, but rather also heavier than originally. In the Top-execution with twelve cylinders the vehicles empty 2,3 tons becomes ventured and count therewith to the heaviest copies of the class. The car body consists stole of the classic material. Audi on the other hand makes the sheet metal body of the new A8 (like already at the predecessor) completely out of aluminum. The complicated production technology further was refined, that reduces number of the sweat connections. Far larger related Baugruppen can be processed in the mean time. In comparable Steifigkeit of the car body, the Audi will be easier therefore at least six hundredweights than the behäbige luxury-VW. In the Spitzenmotorisierung with the same twelve cylinder motor, that becomes also in the Phaeton verbaut, it should remain clear under two tons empty weight. A further Manko of the Phaeton will be its motors palette. The most important aggregate in this vehicle class, a respect cylinder, is missing completely - during Audi a long time over proved V8-Motoren of different Hubraumgrößen ordered. That the Phaeton will be delivered originally only with six and twelve cylinder motors, (in the summer follows an urgewaltiger ten cylinder-diesel), lies at a years-long infighting between wolf castle and Ingolstadt. While Audi-boss Paefgen let less than the available V8-Maschinen, Piëch in wolf castle set on the W8 compacter substantially, that end 2001 was introduced for the first time in the Passat. The W8-Motor lets combined produce relatively costs favorable in that with other Konzernaggregaten, missriet however technically. Until now its consumption is much too high and its passage power needy. The W8, judges an Audi-engineer, "is simply unpleasant". Verbissen works the wolf castle motors developer presently on an optimization of the Ansaugtrakts before the motor in the coming year with more torque and less thirst should drive finally also the Phaeton. Persistently the earlier Audi-boss Paefgen against Piëchs plan blocked himself to transplant the VW-respect cylinder also into Audi-vehicles. After the wish of the combine boss, the W8 should be offered about in the means class model Audi A4, for there the V8 of Audi did not suit purely. Yet instead of receiving the unloved VW-motor, Paefgen let modify the V8-Aggregat. With a slimmer camshafts drive, he is suitable now also for the installation into littler series and is presented yet in the autumn in the A4. Many managers in Ingolstadt doubt whether the new Audi-boss Winterkorn will go a comparably hard line in the interest of its sign. They see a "VW-man" in it sooner. When Winterkorn appeared during the Genevan car show for the first time for the Ingolstädter brand, his colleagues looked often for him in vain on the Audi booth. Asking visitors were directed to the adjoining VW booth. There the Audi-man stood gladly speech and answer to its favorite child, that just premiere celebrated - the Phaeton.

Egil A64.2s - S6

After all these years they still can't do a credible machine translation. Still hope for us humans.

cyjack

particularly the bits about the heads at VW insisting on the use of inferior technologies (namely the W8). If, as seems to be the case, Winterkorn is a VW man at heart, it seems unlikely that he'll stand up to the VW party line like Paefgen.

It also sucks that they held back the release of the new A8 for the Phaeton. I don't care how cool that car's climate control system is, VWoA is going to sell few to none in the first year. In the meantime Audi will lose A8 sales through the summer and fall to the new 7 and the still popular S.

And, on top of all this, Audi is now going to do an SUV based on that horrendous VW MAC concept. Someone tell me that I don't need to worry! ;-)

hisport

VAG: Clueless it seems. And Audi Suffers due to VW Vanity Piece