Phaeton body Volkswagen introduced a vehicle with the name Phaeton, which has a typical four-door sedan body style. Phaeton body A phaeton is a style of open automobile without any fixed weather protection, which was popular from the 1900s until the 1930s. It is an automotive equivalent of the horse-drawn fast, lightweight phaeton carriage. A popular style in the USA from the mid–1920s and continuing into the first half of the 1930s was the dual cowl phaeton, with a cowl separating the rear passengers from the driver and front passenger. Phaetons fell from favour when closed cars and convertible body styles became
Volkswagen Phaeton of whilst maintaining the interior temperature at . Piëch requested this even though the Phaeton's top speed was electronically limited to . Another requirement was that the car should possess torsional rigidity of 37,000 N·m/degree. At the 1999 International Motor Show Germany, Volkswagen presented the Concept D, which was essentially a hatchback prototype of the Phaeton, with very similar design, V10 TDI engine, air suspension and all wheel drive. The Phaeton's platform, the Volkswagen Group D1 platform, was shared with the Bentley Continental GT and Bentley Continental Flying Spur. Certain systems, such as the automatic transmission and some engines, are