BP, Pope Have a VW Moment Together

By Marty Padgett October 19th, 2006

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From the Playboy Mansion to Vatican City: Volkswagen’s long, strange trip is making a special stop this week to the House of Pope for a special delivery blessed, perhaps, by God himself. (How would we know? We’re Buddhist.) Today in Italy, Volkswagen Chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder handed over the keys to a specially outfitted Phaeton sedan to his holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. A long-wheelbase car, the Phaeton gets black paint and a 450-hp W-12 engine. Undisclosed “comfort and privacy” equipment is included, and we’re betting all our Mehmet Ali Agca playing cards they’re not talking about an Xbox. Completing this wandering entry, we’ll conclude with a one-liner you’ll never hear at VW HQ again: Benedict? Heck, I nearly broke it. Thanks, Mom. You’re a classy dame for that one.

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4 Responses to “BP, Pope Have a VW Moment Together”

jonny

I wonder if he payed sticker

Perfect car for the perfect man!

Regarding the passing of the Taurus, I agree, but feel it needs a finer point put on it. The car had, simply, a badly engineered trans. The other stuff happens to many other cars, even the smell issue. My mother bought the Taurus the first year it came out on my recommendation. She had it for ten years and it served her very well. I recently rented a Taurus and found myself cursing even the action of the trans, finding it on an engineering par with cars I grew up with in the late 60s: sloppy, inconsistent and confused most of the time. I also know, though, first hand that if Taurus owners changed their trans fluid every 30K it would last at least as long as the car (just ask a cabby), but we all know that sort of preventive behavior isn’t going to happen anytime soon. What gets me is Ford losing all the equity the name had built up. That is something very hard to come by. And, more importantly, why the hell didn’t they re-engineer that damned trans? For the money they would have put into it, they could have sold more than enough additional cars to pay for it. And, the bonus would have been even more brand equity! Where was Ford’s head?