VW finally fills its SUV gap with 2018 Atlas

With the market rushing headlong toward trucks, SUVs and crossovers, Volkswagen has badly needed a mid-range SUV between its $25,000 compact Tiguan and $50,000-plus premium Touareg. And now, finally, it has one.

Designed and engineered in Wolfsburg, built at VW's billion-dollar Chattanooga plant and riding on the modular MQB platform, the 2018 Atlas ($31,000 base price) enters production three years after the CrossBlue concept made the autoshow rounds. Atlas was developed as “a vehicle to go straight at the heart of the mid-size SUV market,” explained Michael Lovati, Vice President of VW's mid-size/full-size product line.