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Volkswagen showing '5-passenger Atlas' concept in New York

VW's new US-focused SUV will be built in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Steven Ewing Former managing editor
Steven Ewing spent his childhood reading car magazines, making his career as an automotive journalist an absolute dream job. After getting his foot in the door at Automobile while he was still a teenager, Ewing found homes on the mastheads at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog and Motor1.com before joining the CNET team in 2018. He has also served on the World Car Awards jury. Ewing grew up ingrained in the car culture of Detroit -- the Motor City -- before eventually moving to Los Angeles. In his free time, Ewing loves to cook, binge trash TV and play the drums.
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Volkswagen 5-Passenger Atlas Teaser
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Volkswagen 5-Passenger Atlas Teaser

Whether or not it's the same size as a seven-passenger Atlas remains to be seen.

 Volkswagen

Volkswagen will add a new SUV to its US lineup, and we'll see it previewed in concept form at the New York Auto Show next week. Additionally, the automaker confirms that this new SUV will be built in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as part of a $340 million investment into its local manufacturing facility.

As you can see in the teaser above, the new SUV concept takes a lot of its design cues from the larger Atlas . That's on purpose; Volkswagen is referring to this SUV as a "five-passenger Atlas." However, it's unclear if that means this is simply an Atlas with two rows of seats, or a much smaller vehicle that will be positioned alongside its bigger brother. Given the fact that Volkswagen is showing this as a concept first, we think it'll be the latter. Of course, the concept's rakish roofline and sloped rear deck means this could be a crossover-coupe version of the Atlas, too. Let's hope not.

We don't have many details as of this writing, Volkswagen only confirming that the SUV will be based on the company's modular MQB architecture, and that it's "designed and engineered for the American market."

We'll have the official details live from New York next week.