The Volkswagen Phaeton is a full-size luxury sedan/saloon manufactured by German automaker Volkswagen

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...

, and is described by Volkswagen as their "premium class" vehicle. It was introduced at the 2002 Geneva Motor Show, and marketed worldwide.

The name Phaeton derives from Phaëton

Phaëton

In Greek mythology, Phaëton or Phaethon was the son of Helios and the Oceanid Clymene. Alternate, less common genealogies make him a son of Clymenus by Merope, of Helios and Rhode or of Helios and Prote....

, the son of Phoebus (or Helios

Helios

Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...

) in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, by way of the phaeton auto body style

Phaeton body

A Phaeton is a style of open car or carriage without proper weather protection for passengers. Use of this name for automobiles was limited to North America or its products....

 and the type of horse-drawn carriage

Phaeton (carriage)

Phaeton is the early 19th-century term for a sporty open carriage drawn by a single horse or a pair, typically with four extravagantly large wheels, very lightly sprung, with a minimal body, fast and dangerous. It usually had no sidepieces in front of the seats...

 that preceded it.
The Phaeton was conceived by Ferdinand Piëch

Ferdinand Piëch

Ferdinand Karl Piëch is an Austrian business magnate, engineer and executive who is currently the chairman of the supervisory board of Volkswagen Group....

, then chairman of Volkswagen Group

Volkswagen Group

Volkswagen Group is a German multinational automobile manufacturing group. , Volkswagen was ranked as the world’s third largest motor vehicle manufacturer and Europe's largest....

.