The future of Volkswagen in America has arrived with the Atlas SUV
Late last week, Volkswagen unveiled the latest addition to their US lineup - a mid-size SUV called the Atlas. The Chattanooga, Tennessee-built crossover is the first major arrival in Volkswagen's SUV revolution that will see the venerable German brand completely transform its lineup over the next few years.
"This is the biggest and boldest Volkswagen we have ever built in the United States, delivering the distinctive design and craftsmanship we're known for, now with room for seven," Volkswagen North America Region CEO Hinrich J. Woebcken said in a press statement. "The Atlas marks a brand new journey for Volkswagen to enter into the heart of the American market."
The new SUV will make its world debut at the 2016 LA auto show in Novembers and will go on sale in the Spring of 2017.
When it arrives, the 7-seat family hauler will join VW's compact Tiguan and mid-size Touareg SUVs already on sale today. Unfortunately, even in a market that craves SUVs, Volkswagen has failed to make any significant headway with consumers.
Even though Tiguan sales are up 36% this year in the US, VW has only managed sell 30,000 of the compact crossovers through the end of September and currently accounts for just 1.3% of the segment. In that same period, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and Ford have each managed to sell more than 230,000 of their respective compact crossovers.
The news is even worse for VW with the Touareg which has seen just 3,200 examples of the SUVs rolls off dealer lots through the end of September. As a result, the Teutonic off-roader accounts for a measly 0.2% of the US mid-size SUV market - the same segment in which the Atlas will do battle.
Thus, the three-row SUV will serve as much need reinforcement for VW's ailing lineup as it attempts to beef up SUV sales and recover from the debacle left in the wake of the company's multi-billion dollar emissions cheating scandal.
Following, the arrival of Atlas next Spring, VW will roll out the second generation Tiguan crossover for the US market later in 2017.
Over the next few years, the Wolfsburg-based auto giant plans to have three more SUV models, in addition to the Atlas, Tiguan, and Touareg.
In addition, there are plans for a sub-compact crossover and a compact model that will both slot in below the next generation Tiguan in the model hierarchy.
To differentiate the two mid-size SUVs, Volkswagen is expected to push the Touareg upmarket by rebranding the SUV, with its strong Porsche DNA (Porsche is part of the VW Group), as a performance-oriented model. Above the Touareg - at the top of VW's SUV food chain - will be the production version of the T-Prime GTE Concept that was introduced earlier this year at the Beijing auto show.
In the mean time, here's a closer look at the new 2018 Volkswagen Atlas.