2026 VW Atlas.
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These are photos of the Atlas’s Chinese twin, the VW Teramont. Which is basically the same car. And a very accurate preview of the 2026 US Atlas.
They show one of these “fake off-road” trims that are somehow quickly becoming popular these days. It’s not enough for people to buy SUVs anymore, many need to keep the “I’m really an outdoorsy person” charade going by ordering these new expensive off-road trims. In this case, a matte brown paint with black trims everywhere. Not just black trim, but piano black shiny black trim…
These are photos of another trim. With regular and much more attractive wheels. Which does improve things a lot.
However, that redesigned interior still looks quite cheap. At least in these photos. Of course, after all these years, the new Atlas is indeed still an improvement. This is not hard to do since the current design already looked old when it came out, 8 years ago.
It looks better but still not that great. But also not much worse than other new models like the Toyota Grand Highlander. Or even the new Buick Enclave. It seems the Mazda CX-90 might be the better-looking model of a rather ugly bunch.
The same thing inside where the new interior is a huge step forward. Even if the current model interior was redesigned a couple of years ago, It was just never really acceptable. But again, VW missed a bit of opportunity here by not integrating the center screen into the dashboard. Especially since there is plenty of room to do so. Instead, they chose, again, the cheapest way possible. By using the same screen they are using on every single model they sell these days. Whether it fits or not. Which is a shame.
Of course, in true VW fashion, no hybrid is offered. And that will probably be true in the US as well.
Which I think is a big mistake. I think these days, a big SUV should either offer a hybrid or a super smooth V6. Like the new Honda Passport.
The new design will probably keep the big VW Atlas going for a while. Until most buyers demand a hybrid. And later a real EV.
So far, this seems like a stopgap.