VW's Latest Atlas Teaser Gives Off Serious Audi Vibes

One thing is clear from both teasers, though: Volkswagen is getting serious about making the Atlas a premium machine.

Looking Inside

This new teaser gives us a fairly generous look at the dashboard of the Atlas, and it shows off some rather flashy LED lighting. Between the upper and lower dash panel is a line of lighting that fills the gap, but the upper panel and the upper part of the door have something a bit more unique. Those panels are backlit with swoopy patterns of small dots that, particularly in the green hue that Volkswagen selected, look a bit like a nebula or some other celestial phenomenon. The dash panel also has the SUV's name backlit, but in relatively small script.

Looking closely at the trim surrounding the dashboard's backlit panel, we think we can just make out a wood-grain finish, and the edges seem to be made of aluminum, or something that looks like aluminum. The lower dash panel has a fair bit of texture, suggesting it might be wrapped in leatherette. It all looks rather attractive, and if many of those materials are real, and not just lookalikes, the inside of the Atlas could feel almost like an Audi. At the very least, it should be as nice as the high trims of the also lovely Tiguan, and it should complement the premium-looking tail lights we've already seen.

What To Expect

Even though Volkswagen hasn't shared many official details, we have a decent idea of what the Atlas will be like. Between these two teasers, it's quite clear that this new Atlas should be roughly the same as the Chinese-market Teramont Pro. That's not a huge surprise, since the outgoing Atlas was also basically identical to that model. It's not a bad thing, either, since the latest Teramont Pro has much of squared-off look of the outgoing model, but cleaned up and refined. Some changes are likely to appear, though, such as different grilles and head lights. The Atlas version will also have conventional door handles, rather than the Teramont's pop-out units.

We've also had a brief experience with a prototype in snowy conditions where we got a few other details. It will have a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, and we're expecting output to be similar to the Teramont at 269 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque. That one was an all-wheel-drive model, though we expect front-wheel drive to be available, and both should have an 8-speed automatic transmission. The new SUV is also built on the MQB Evo platform, which is also used by the current Golf line and the Tiguan. We'll have final specifications and plenty of photos very soon, as the reveal is set for April 1 during the media days at the New York Auto Show.