The Atlas—Volkswagen’s American-produced 7-seater SUV—sits as the king of their lineup: It's now the biggest and the most spacious. Gone are the days of the Touareg, with Volkswagen now fully committed to trying to be the value-leader in the spaces their models occupy—a far cry from when they thought they could sell Americans a high-end luxury car.
Style-wise, the Atlas looks …
The Touareg platform would've made it more costlier for consumers, and you can't have that while fighting Pilots and Highlanders
In reply to Dootz :
The Pilot we tested retailed for $49k. And even though most won't be specified to that price point, I'm sure the Pilot will outsell the Atlas handily.
Is that another rebadged Dodge?
Jordan Rimpela said:In reply to Dootz :
The Pilot we tested retailed for $49k. And even though most won't be specified to that price point, I'm sure the Pilot will outsell the Atlas handily.
Down here in south Fl, for every Pilot, I see ten Atlas.
yeah I didn't even know that they still made the Pilot. You do see an awful lot of well worn ones though. A few Atlases here and there about. 
In reply to Jordan Rimpela :
Chief, the difference is that the Pilot starts at $32k while the last-gen Touareg started in the mid-$40k. The Atlas here starts right alongside the Pilot's MSRP.
I can tell you right now that the Touareg wouldn't be moving off lots at all compared to the Atlas moving quite handily
The ads for the Atlas used to make me think they were photoshopped to make them look bigger, like one of those old Wide-Track Pontiac illustrations. Like the one in the PR shot above. There was one ad shot in particular of a suburban driveway, with a basketball in the foreground that looked about the size of a grapefruit next to the vehicle. I figured it was artistic license.
Then they started showing up in real life, and it ain't photoshop. Those things are berking huge, at least on the outside.
Wait, you had two kids, went for a third and ended up with twins...AND THEN HAD ANOTHER?!?!? People be crazy.
Dootz said:In reply to Jordan Rimpela :
Chief, the difference is that the Pilot starts at $32k while the last-gen Touareg started in the mid-$40k. The Atlas here starts right alongside the Pilot's MSRP.
I can tell you right now that the Touareg wouldn't be moving off lots at all compared to the Atlas moving quite handily
Sorry, didn't mean to imply that the Touareg would have been more competitive, but rather that the Pilot will outsell the Atlas by a healthy margin, even if VAG is moving a lot of the Atlas.
I wonder how many discounts VW is handing out to move them, also am seeing a ton in Florida too.
But if I recall the Touareg was probably more expensive to build vs the atlas. Always wish the touareg was more reliable as the offroading capabilities of the 1st gen were quite good.
Parked beside I guess what is the current Touareg today. Man those things got big from the first gen! Why do car manufacturers do that? Just keep making things bloatier and bloatier until they can't be afforded and are then discontinued. 
nutherjrfan said:Parked beside I guess what is the current Touareg today. Man those things got big from the first gen! Why do car manufacturers do that? Just keep making things bloatier and bloatier until they can't be afforded and are then discontinued.
Marketing. That's the way it always happens, on purpose. New model is introduced at size X and generates some brand recognition. With each new generation it gets a little larger, a little fancier, and a little more expensive. With each new generation the marketing department gets to shout, "Now Bigger! Now Fancier!" while not mentioning the increased price outside the fine print. Eventually the X model grows as large (or larger) as the previous model Y was originally, and that model is now the size of the old model Z. The largest model gets discontinued, and a new model gets introduced where the original model X was. Lather, rinse, repeat.
In reply to Duke :
It seems to happening with the Versa but I have yet to see the new one in the flesh. Does that mean a goodbye to the Biggus Maximus before too long? 
I am seeing an awful lot of Kia Tellurides around here. Decent looking. Can't be bothered to google if they have a third row.
V6, front wheel drive, seats 7. Does this mean we can start referring to minivans as SUVs?
Streetwiseguy said:Is that another rebadged Dodge?
First thing I thought when I started seeing them, and I would have put money on it.
But I looked it up and apparently not.
Crazy that it weighs less than the heaviest of Dodge Challengers.
a far cry from when they thought they could sell Americans a high-end luxury car.
I mean they COULD, they just had to put a Porsche or Bentley badge on it. My Cayenne is the nicest VW I've been around and I'm legit looking forward to Bentley ownership. 
They couldn't have based it on the Touareg, and that's fine because what makes those expensive is wasted on a 3-row buyer, generically speaking. I actually like the Atlas a lot in the sense of it being more pragmatic than some other 3-rows that are selling on aspirations at the slight expense of being better at what they'll actually be used for. The Atlas seems like a very honest swing at the real target, which is people who need a minivan and won't buy one.
As far as things getting bigger, the Touareg (and Cayenne) were/are exceptions to that rule. They got substantially lighter and not much if any bigger compared to where they started.
SUVs are all pretty much invisible to me. This post is the first I've heard of a VW Atlas. From the thread title, I thought VW was using GM's Atlas engine in one of their products.
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