Volkswagen Atlas, the new five-seat SUV of the future you won't see in Europe

Developed from the MQB platform of the recent Atlas, Volkswagen will present next week at the New York Auto Show a new concept car that foreshadows a new large SUV, which will be shown at a stage already very close to production but with only five seats.

The Wolfsburg brand is continuing the renewal of its SUV range. Following the launch of the T-Roc and the Tiguan AllSpace, it is now the turn of the Touareg’s big brother, the Atlas, a model that is not sold in European markets but enjoys great prestige and high sales volumes in its segment in both the North American and Chinese markets, where it was launched commercially during the last quarter of 2017

The new SUV is a derivative version of the VW Atlas. It is a variant of the same vehicle, slightly more compact in size, that will be offered with only 5 seats instead of the Atlas’s 7, but equipped with a very large boot. It is expected that its smaller size and the greater lightness of the whole will give the five-seat Atlas greater dynamic capability than the already known seven-seat version.

At the end of last year, on the occasion of the presentation of the seven-seat model, VW North America’s chief, Hinrich Woebcken, already previewed the future arrival of new variants within the Atlas range, for which the manufacturer has already registered the names Atlas AllSport and Atlas Cross Sport. It remains to be seen which of the two will finally name the model that will be derived almost directly from the concept car the brand will present next week in New York. “The Atlas has given the brand a strong boost in the SUV segment, and we are excited to grow our model range with this new five-door passenger version that will be assembled at the Chattanooga plant,” said Woebcken.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLUH-SPh_NQ

The images accompanying these lines show a sketch of the new model (Volkswagen has only previewed this drawing) together with photographs and a video of the seven-seat Atlas. Volkswagen will invest 340 million dollars in the production of the new SUV. This investment comes in addition to the approximately 900 million already invested in adapting the Chattanooga plant for Atlas production.

The future five-seat Atlas will be offered with advanced engines, an 8-speed automatic gearbox, 4Motion all-wheel drive and a suspension setup that favours comfort on board. It will be equipped with a wide range of driver assistance systems as well as advanced technologies, such as active info display, adaptive cruise control (ACC), forward collision warning, emergency brake assist, automatic post-collision braking system, blind-spot assist, lane-keeping assist and parking assist, among others.