Volkswagen Atlas

The Atlas is Volkswagen's mid-size three-row SUV — designed specifically for the North American market and built at VW Chattanooga, Tennessee. Single generation (2018-present) on MQB platform shared with Tiguan / Jetta / Golf — the largest MQB application in the US. Two body styles: standard Atlas (3-row, 7-passenger or 6-passenger with captain's chairs) and Atlas Cross Sport (2-row coupe-styled variant, 5-passenger). 2024 facelift brought significant updates: refreshed exterior (cleaner front fascia), refreshed interior with new 10.25-inch driver display + 12-inch touchscreen, and crucially the V6 was discontinued in favor of the 2.0L TSI turbo I4 as the only powertrain. Current 2025 spec: 2.0L TSI EA888 evo4 turbo I4 (269 hp / 273 lb-ft), 8-speed automatic (Aisin AQ450), FWD or 4Motion AWD. Pre-facelift Atlas (2018-2023) had additionally offered 3.6L VR6 (276 hp) — a defining VW engine — but this was dropped. Trims: SE, SE w/Tech, SEL, SEL Premium R-Line (top), Peak Edition (off-road styling, 2024+). VW Travel Assist 2.0 semi-autonomous standard, IQ.DRIVE ADAS suite, 14 USB-C ports across all rows, Harman Kardon 12-speaker on Premium R-Line. The Atlas was VW's strategic bet to win American 3-row buyers — historically a tough segment for VW outside the US. Sales have been steady — peaked around 100k US units in good years. Cross Sport (2-row variant) has been less popular than expected. The Atlas / Atlas Cross Sport are the largest VW vehicles in the US lineup and the only American-built VWs alongside the Passat (Chattanooga, until 2022) and ID.4 (also Chattanooga from 2022).