VW expects to sell 7,800 Phaetons in 2003

FRANKFURT, Feb 8, 2003; Reuters reported that Volkswagen AG said on Saturday it expected to sell over 7,800 of its new Phaeton executive saloons this year, but denied a magazine report that it had slashed its sales target for the model.

A spokesman for Europe's largest carmaker denied that the company had originally planned to sell between 12,000 and 14,000 of the luxury saloons this year, as reported by Germany's Spiegel magazine in an article to be published on Monday.

"I don't know anything about this figure," VW spokesman Dirk Grosse-Leege told Reuters, adding that the company expected to sell around 7,860 Phaetons this year.

"At the moment we are fully engaged in the introductory phase... We have always said we aimed to sell 20,000 Phaetons a year once it is introduced to all markets and all model variants are available."

The luxury saloon has still to be launched in some European markets, Japan and the world's largest car market, the United States, where Volkswagen hopes to sell around half of its Phaetons.

VW Chief Executive Bernd Pischetsrieder reiterated when the model was launched in Germany in May that the car's success would be reflected less in its sales figures than in boosting the VW brand.

Some industry watchers have in the past criticised VW for investing in luxury projects such as the Phaeton at the expense of its core mass-market business.

Volkswagen sold 4.98 million vehicles in 2002, down just under two percent on the previous year, but is aiming to lift sales again to over five million this year.