Audi of America CEO Fired for Criticism of Poor Selling VW Phaeton

One executive that couldn't keep towing the company line while seeing his profits sabotaged from within was Axel Mees, axed

Axel Mees, was axed from his job as head of Audi of America Inc. yesterday for voicing his opinions about the poor selling Phaeton. (Photo: Audi of America)

from is job as head of Audi of America Inc. yesterday. Stating that expanding the Volkswagen brand into the luxury segment may have been a mistake, Mees made the mistake of voicing what many other VW executives are most likely thinking.

If Volkswagen wasn't currently suffering from debilitating sales in North America and abroad (see automotive news archive for Feb 19, 2004: Volkswagen's Fifth-Generation Golf is Underperforming in Europe), plus troubling reliability problems that have plunged the brand that was once the poster child of automotive dependability down to 32nd out of 37 nameplates in J. D. Powers and Associates 2004 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS), and second to last place in the 2004 Initial Quality Study (IQS), then a simple indulgence such as the Phaeton would hardly be a big deal. But ex-CEO Ferdinand Piëch, while initially turning the company around in the early '90s, allowed quality to take a back seat while grand plans for pushing the Volkswagen brand upmarket were set, and arguably the money that

Under ex-CEO Ferdinand Piëch, quality took a back seat to grand plans of pushing the Volkswagen brand upmarket. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, American Auto Press)

could have been used to improve the reliability of VW and Audi vehicles was spent in developing a vehicle that would never do more than fill a small niche market.

What happened to Piëch's pet project when it hit the real world is now a lesson in history unfolding in modern day. To call the Phaeton a disappointment would be an understatement, with sales this year in the U.S. totaling a meager 1,433 units from January through October. No wonder those affected within VW are disgruntled. October's sales of 305 units, if amortized to the end of year would mean a total of 2,000 Phaetons may be all that is attainable, much lower than VW had initially intended.