Volkswagen Design Employee Claims Atlas Styling Boring, Old, Domestic

Mark Stevenson
by Mark Stevenson

There’s no doubt Volkswagen needs its new midsize Atlas to be a home run (or, at least, a ground rule double) to keep its American dealers appeased following the now-year-long diesel emissions scandal. Even before the scandal, Volkswagen USA could neither create a product mix befitting American sensibilities nor price its ill-marketed product at price points palatable to the American public.

Yet, Atlas — Volkswagen’s crossover slotting between the compact Tiguan and upmarket Touareg — wears sheetmetal penned by Ativan-popping designers, and one of Volkswagen’s design employees agrees.

At the Los Angeles Auto Show, I had a chance encounter with an employee of Volkswagen responsible for part of the company’s design process. As we sat together, I queried him on the Atlas’ design from a designer’s perspective.

The answers were equal parts shocking and expected.

When asked about how much the Atlas excites him from a visual standpoint, the employee stated, “It’s boring. Of course it’s boring.”

Prodded further, the person stated, “That vehicle is four years old. And by that, I mean it looks four years old.”

However, the comparison with another make drove the point home.

“It looks like a 2012 Ford whatever. It could be anything.”

The Atlas, in addition to the Golf Alltrack, is part of Volkswagen’s plan to rebrand the automaker from a purveyor of efficient diesels to an expert in all-wheel-drive capability and its associated Subaru-esque lifestyle.

In the future, Atlas derivatives could have additional wheelbase lengths and sport seating for five instead of the current seven. A partially electrified model is also in the cards.

Two engines will power the Atlas at launch: a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder producing 238 horsepower, and the company’s VR6 3.6-liter V6 engine with 280 hp. Both will be mated to an eight-speed automatic sending power to just front or all four wheels via Volkswagen’s 4Motion all wheel drive system.

The design, unfortunately, is standard equipment.

[Image: Volkswagen of America]

Mark Stevenson
Mark Stevenson

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  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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