VOLKSWAGEN has very modest sales plans for its executive saloon, the Phaeton, and it is just as well.
Diving headlong into the upper echelons of the luxury limousine market is no easy task, especially when your reputation is primarily as a provider of motor vehicles for the masses.
The Phaeton is aiming to change that, hopefully by eventually emulating the success that Toyota enjoyed when it launched its luxury Lexus brand here to great critical acclaim.
The Phaeton is a similarly understated offering. In fact its critics say it looks like little more than a stretched Passat.
Although the company has gone to the expense of producing the car in right hand drive form, the UK is numerically pretty unimportant with a maximum of 400 buyers a year at most.
In the North American market, however, the Phaeton enjoys greater success, ironically among the increasing number of buyers who are downsizing to smaller European models such as Jaguar, Mercedes, BMW and now Volkswagen.
Back in Blighty the Phaeton is more about raising the image of the company to help support other models such as the luxury Touareg lifestyle model.
In the case of the Phaeton, prices start at around £43,000 for the 3.2-litre V6 version, rising to more than £70,000 for the silky smooth six-litre model.
Think of the latter as being powered by two of the smaller V6s welded together to form what Volkswagen refers to as a W12 and you get the picture.
These were the only two engines available initially but they have since been joined by a 4.2-litre V8 and, more importantly, a five-litre V10 turbodiesel.
There are also long wheelbase versions of each, costing roughly £2,000 more.
In true Volkswagen tradition, the standard of engineering and manufacture are flawless, but then that applies equally to the BMW 7-Series, Mercedes S-Class, Lexus LS430, Audi A8 and the Jaguar XJ saloons.
Whilst the Phaeton is well equipped, as is to be expected for the money, the standard specification could be improved upon in some cases.
The three-year warranty covers only the first 60,000 miles unlike, say, the Mercedes, which offers unlimited mileage.
Like its rivals the Phaeton comes with an optional £500 all-inclusive servicing package for the first three years, although only one in eight of the 320-strong UK dealer network are allowed to do the work.
Like the Touareg, only 40 Volkswagen dealers in the whole of the UK are considered capable of carrying out work on the newcomer, which has for example, 2,000 cables, 3.2 kilometres of wiring and 62 electronic control units in every vehicle.
Whilst the Phaeton is undeniably a class act and certainly does no harm to the company's image, it faces formidable opposition from established luxury brands.
It appeals mainly to those in search of the ultimate in understated luxury, which to the uninitiated is by no means apparent just by looking at the car from the outside.
For those intending to finance such a vehicle with their own money, depreciation is the greatest single drain on resources.
After three years of ownership the £43,000 entry-level model is worth less than £20,000 in comparison to a Mercedes S280 which costs £47,500 initially but retains 56 per cent of its value over the same period.
Undoubtedly the best way to buy a Phaeton is as a dealer-demonstrator or in any other nearly-new deal in which case it probably represents the most metal for the money on the market.
Throw in Volkswagen's legendary reliability and durability and it is a safe bet too.
FAST FACTS
Volkswagen Phaeton 3.2 V6 4MOTION
Price: £43,360
Mechanical: 240bhp, 3,189cc, 6cyl petrol engine driving all four wheels via 6spd automatic gearbox
Max speed: 148mph
0-62mph: 9.7 secs
Combined mpg: 23.2
Insurance group: 17
CO2 emissions: 293g/km
BiK rating: 35%
Warranty: 3yrs/ 60,000 miles; 3yrs paint; 12yrs anti-rust