Volkswagen hasn't sold its big Phaeton sedan in the US since 2006. While it did decently well in Europe, the Phaeton never quite caught on with American buyers. It's not that it was a bad car; it's just that Americans weren't so willing to pay a premium for a VW. However, VW is feeling more confident these days with its US sales operations. In fact, the US market is also vital for VW to achieve its goal of being the number one automaker in the world by 2018.

With all that in mind, VW's new CEO of US operations, Michael Horn, recently stated in an interview that the Phaeton will be back in the US by 2019, at the latest. No details were given regarding what platform it'll ride on or how VW will work to differentiate it from the Audi A8. What won't make a return is the previous Phaeton's optional W12 engine. Like the A8, the next Phaeton could very well be powered by a twin-turbo V8 instead.