Underneath that large and proud badge denoting a ‘People’s car’, was a luxury limousine infused with budget-unfriendly engineering fetishism forced through by the late great Ferdinand Piëch, whose disdain for anything less than perfection is the stuff of legend. Truth be told, no one expected a second-generation Phaeton, because no one expected the first. It’s expected the range would have reflected that of the 2017 A8, which is to say, it would have flagrantly violated the legacy of the old Phaeton by not offering a W12 or a diesel V10. This prototype featured an alloy boot lid, doors and bonnet and was around 120mm longer than its predecessor.

The Bentley Continental meanwhile, with which the original shared a platform, moved on to its own platform shared with Porsche’s second-generation Panamera. Based on the MLB architecture, the second Phaeton would have shared underpinnings with the current Audi A8 and Porsche Macan. The D2 reached the stage of ‘near-series prototype’ which as above means that, short of last-minute refinements, it was ready to go. Our only consolation is that the enormous and crystal-clear dash and infotainment architecture lives on in the current Touareg, which launched in 2018.

On the inside? Absolutely fab and a crying shame it never happened. Our two cents? VW’s later design language doesn’t quite suit the very specific look that we think the original Phaeton perfected on the outside. The design, which per the original is a deftly oxymoronic combination of understated and premium, was picked from four original proposals.

Crystal dash cancel