The Volkswagen Atlas is the biggest SUV the company builds on its flexible MQB platform, and although it’s just been on sale in the US for just seven months, the German auto giant is already preparing a whole family of models based upon it. During the last month, Volkswagen sold 5,154 units of the Atlas in America, that is much ahead of rivals such as the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot full-size SUVs. It’s also on a par with same models from luxury brand names, consisting of the BMW X5, Acura MDX and the Cadillac XT5.
During a recent event for the brand-new generation of the Jetta sedan, which is still the automaker’s biggest-selling vehicle in the US, the Group’s North American CEO, Hinrich Woebcken, admitted he seeks an “Atlas family” to include an entry in the high-volume B-segment of the marketplace.
The next model in the future expanding Atlas family is most likely to be a smaller five-seat model, however with a sportier and even a more off-road focused personality than the big, family-orientated Atlas. Woebcken informed the media at the New York Auto Show previously this year the company already had a five-seat SUV in development, to be constructed at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant. It seems the VW Group is seeking to establish the VW brand as a firmly family-friendly automaker, and one that’s well-placed to meet America’s extraordinary hunger for all things crossover and SUV today.
Only last month, the automaker was reported to have applied to trademark the names “Atlas Cross Sport” and “Atlas Allsport,” which provide offer a strong hint of what it has in mind for two future models. The company has also applied to trademark the name “Apollo,” which it has used before in Brazil for a small- two-door sedan, and could be the name for the brand-new small crossover Woebcken has mentioned.
