Photo: Volkswagen
Sometimes, you've got to ignore your core values and just go with the trend. That's why Volkswagen USA has finally begun making the 3-row Atlas crossover at its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
It only took them several years of development and $900 million invested into the facility to get this far, which is amazing when you consider the Atlas is mainly a vehicle for the United States. Sure, they'll ship it to a few other places and China gets its own version, but the Atlas is nowhere near as global as the Golf.
To make room for the Atlas, the factory had to be enlarged by 665,000 square feet or about 26%. The workforce that normally makes the Passat had to be expanded by 400 people, with plans to hire more next year.
“I am very proud of the hard work the Chattanooga team has put in to bring the Atlas to series production,” said Christian Koch, President and CEO of Volkswagen Chattanooga. “The challenge of integrating a new vehicle line while simultaneously completing a major expansion of our facility was daunting, but our team stepped up to the task, and now we have taken another step towards the market introduction of the Atlas."
Moving people is kind of Volkswagen specialty, but unlike the Beetle and the Microbus, the Atlas is not an original idea. Still, there's something to be said about the largest SUV being slightly cheaper than the Touareg when it goes on sale next spring.
The Atlas rides on a much bigger version of the MQB platform and will be offered with a choice of two engines. The base one is a 2.0L turbo with 238 hp, and it will be joined by the 280 hp 3.6-liter VR6. The VR6 is matched to the latest 4Motion VW AWD system. Both the 4-cylinder and VR6 get an 8-speed automatic.
The 4Motion is a 5th generation system, the same as in the next Tiguan that's also coming in 2017. The dash is classic VW with a simple layout and intuitively placed buttons. But you'll notice that behind the steering wheel is a digital dashboard. Will that come standard on anything other than the SEL? We won't know for another couple of months.
To make room for the Atlas, the factory had to be enlarged by 665,000 square feet or about 26%. The workforce that normally makes the Passat had to be expanded by 400 people, with plans to hire more next year.
“I am very proud of the hard work the Chattanooga team has put in to bring the Atlas to series production,” said Christian Koch, President and CEO of Volkswagen Chattanooga. “The challenge of integrating a new vehicle line while simultaneously completing a major expansion of our facility was daunting, but our team stepped up to the task, and now we have taken another step towards the market introduction of the Atlas."
Moving people is kind of Volkswagen specialty, but unlike the Beetle and the Microbus, the Atlas is not an original idea. Still, there's something to be said about the largest SUV being slightly cheaper than the Touareg when it goes on sale next spring.
The Atlas rides on a much bigger version of the MQB platform and will be offered with a choice of two engines. The base one is a 2.0L turbo with 238 hp, and it will be joined by the 280 hp 3.6-liter VR6. The VR6 is matched to the latest 4Motion VW AWD system. Both the 4-cylinder and VR6 get an 8-speed automatic.
The 4Motion is a 5th generation system, the same as in the next Tiguan that's also coming in 2017. The dash is classic VW with a simple layout and intuitively placed buttons. But you'll notice that behind the steering wheel is a digital dashboard. Will that come standard on anything other than the SEL? We won't know for another couple of months.
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