VW Phaeton – the 2010 facelift is unveiled at Beijing

Pay attention at the back. This is the new, facelifted VW Phaeton, unveiled today at the 2010 Beijing motor show.

It most certainly is. The design refresh may be subtle, but there are a few small cosmetic changes to accompany a flurry of minor technical upgrades.

You’ll (just about) spot the new 2010 Volkswagen Phaeton by its bi-xenon headlamps and LED running lights wrapped around a minutely resculpted grille with two horizontal bars. Whether that lends the car ‘a more imposing stance’ as VW claims or not remains to be seen.

The front wings and bonnet are reprofiled too and the bumper now gets chrome strips and LED foglights, while the alloys are new and rear bumper gently reshaped. Oh yes.

We’re deep into minor facelift territory here, in case you hadn’t guessed. The steering wheel is new, Google maps are now plumbed into the sat-nav and – this is how you can tell how little has changed on the Phaeton – there is apparently 3.2 kilometres of cabling to connect all the car’s electro gizmos. Blimey.

The revised 2010 VW Phaeton goes on UK sale in August 2010 in two guises: a 237bhp 3.0 TDI V6 or the 444bhp 6.0-litre W12 petrol. Choose between standard and LWB, the latter with a stretch of 120mm in the wheelbase.

By Tim Pollard