In the Wild: Volkswagen Atlas

In Europe, Volkswagen’s largest SUV is the Touareg. Elsewhere in the world, Volkswagen has a completely different model ready, which, depending on the country, is known as Atlas or Teramont. This dark gray copy ended up in the Netherlands and is perhaps easier to explain than the Touareg.

The global car market is becoming more and more uniform in many ways. Where the model ranges of North America, Europe and Asia previously had little to do with each other, nowadays we see more and more that a model is sold worldwide in almost identical form.

Yet there are still market segments that require their own approach on every continent. The large SUV segment is without doubt a good example. ‘Large’ in Europe means the class of the Volvo XC90 and BMW X5, although there are still somewhat larger units for sale in the form of the Mercedes GLS, BMW X7 and Range Rover. In all cases, these are so-called premium products, with the all-new Ford Explorer as the only exception for the time being. The Volkswagen Touareg is also what we call a ‘premium product’. The car is large, expensive and distinguishes itself with special technology, such as its gigantic touchscreen. Space was not the main priority, luxury and appearance were. Just like with stable mate Audi Q7, so, what makes the Touareg such a special and difficult product.

MQB

In the US, an ideal country for a large SUV, the Touareg is no longer even for sale. Instead, there is the Atlas. It is even a bit bigger than the Touareg, but has no premium pretensions. Where the Touareg is on the MLB platform of the Audi Q7, among others, the Atlas is the largest product on the well-known MQB platform. On the outside, the Atlas has many similarities with the Tiguan Allspace, although it is visibly larger and, due to its giga grille and flared wheel arches, a bit tougher. It offers three rows of seats as standard, a lot of space and a lot of luxury and is a direct competitor to the aforementioned Explorer, but also to models such as the Kia Telluride and Toyota Highlander. This segment is very popular in the US and Canada, where the Atlas is sold under this name. In China, but also in the Middle East, the same car is called Teramont.

The thickest

This gray Atlas is a SEL with the 3.6-liter V6, the fastest, most expensive and most luxurious variant. With year of construction 2018 it is a young copy. What is special is that the car has had a Dutch registration from the very beginning. That suggests that a large ditch of BPM has been tapped, because such an Atlas is – at least on paper – a thirsty boy. In this form, it delivers 280 hp and weighs just under 2,000 kg. Apart from some dirt, there is of course nothing to criticize about the external condition of this very young car.

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