Word: phaeton
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...with her there, but then why dissect the story of Phaeton (Matthew I. Bohrer ’10) and Apollo (Hill) with such ruthless precision? Why have Apollo’s son tell his story to a long-winded psychiatrist, who tears Phaeton’s tale to shreds with psychoanalytical terminology? If the value of myth is its magical elusiveness, why pin it down? Fables may have morals, but myths do not, and this may be a distinction that Zimmerman forgot to make...
Another element of VW's strategy involves heading downmarket, reversing a silly foray into the luxury segment with its $68,000-plus Phaeton sedan, which flopped. The company has slashed sticker prices on the Jetta (lowered $1,400, to $16,500) and Rabbit ($1,000, to $15,000), hoping to recover profits with higher volume. And future models won't contain as many standard features, according to Hallmark. The idea is to produce cars that can compete more effectively in the midmarket. Designing cars for the local competitive landscape is precisely what the Japanese have done for decades, of course...
...company known for the inexpensive Beetle is now launching its most expensive cars ever. Its first SUV, the Touareg, tops $42,000 with an eight-cylinder engine, putting it in league with hot models from BMW, Cadillac and Infiniti. And a loaded Phaeton, a sedan that cost more than $900 million to develop, will have a sticker price north of $85,000 when it hits U.S. dealerships in December. VW plans to launch dozens of new models over the next two years, including a new Microbus, smaller SUVs and crossover vehicles, and is considering a sexy convertible, the Concept...
...take hold with consumers. Investors seem to think so. VW's share price rallied 34% from the start of the year to early November, outperforming the Dow Jones auto index by 14 percentage points. The Touareg is off to a strong sales start, both here and in Europe. The Phaeton is not. Available in Europe for more than a year, it has been no threat to the Mercedes S Class and the BMW 7 Series, selling less than 8,000 units (in 2002 BMW sold 14,670 7 Series cars in Europe). Equity analysts cite the Touareg and the Touran...
...Others aren't so sure. Christopher Will, an analyst at Lehman Brothers in London, describes the Phaeton as a "mistake" and an "irrelevancy." Says Will: "The VW brand could become muddled if the quality issues persist or if VW launches more products that don't fit its core image." Certainly it's hard to go upmarket when the perception is that quality is heading south, so fixing that must be Pischetsrieder's first task. Next, he's got to ensure that VW's move into luxury doesn't come at the expense of sales in its higher- volume, mid-priced...