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Bruce Newton8 Aug 2018
NEWS

Volkswagen 'reconsidering' its biggest SUV for Oz

Australia leads right-hand drive push for US-made Volkswagen Atlas seven-seat SUV

Volkswagen’s US-built Atlas seven-seat SUV is back on the consideration list for Australia.

But even if the Volkswagen Atlas does get the sign-off for right-hand drive production, don’t expect it in Australia until a significant overhaul early next decade.

Volkswagen’s Australian arm had been pessimistic about landing the big Atlas, as other right-hand drive markets have failed to show any interest.

But Volkswagen Group Australia chief Michael Bartsch told motoring.com.au at last week’s VW Tiguan Allspace SUV launch that the situation had changed in recent months.

“The Atlas is being re-considered,” he said.

“Originally Africa didn’t want it because it didn’t come in diesel, Britain didn’t want it because it was too big and the same with Japan.

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“But now everyone is re-considering it; England is now re-considering it, South Africa is re-considering it, so we are going through a reappraisal of that car.

“Does that mean we will get it next year? No. Is it back on the agenda that is possible in three years’ time? Maybe.

“We are looking at the next generation of Atlas, that’s why I say start thinking three years and the next-generation vehicle.”

The appeal of the Atlas in SUV-mad Australia is obvious; it is a full-size, five-metre, seven-seat SUV that lines up against the likes of the Toyota Kluger.

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Volkswagen’s first seven-seat SUV in Australia — the Tiguan Allspace — is a segment lower with kid-only seats in row three.

Launched in North America in 2017 and now also built in China (where it is known as Teramont), Atlas would also likely be cheaper than the new third-generation Touareg, which arrives here as a technology flagship for the VW brand at a high price in early 2019. It also only comes only as five-seater.

Currently, Atlas is only offered with petrol engines, but Volkswagen has been swinging away from diesels and from October will not have a single passenger car with diesel power in its Australian line-up.

“Atlas will come down to one of the problems we always have and that’s critical mass,” said Bartsch.

“We’ve had the dealers drive the car at an event in Hawaii recently. We did a quick evaluation, got a response from the dealers and it was thumbs up across the board.

“So now it’s a case of the business model.”

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Gaining access to Atlas would also potentially open the gates for model based on it, such as the production versions of the Sports Cross and Tanoak ute that were debuted at the New York show this year.

Beyond the third-generation Touareg, Bartsch also confirmed the Polo-based T-Cross SUV should be in Australia in late 2019, while the larger Golf-based T-Roc remains an unconfirmed possibility for 2020.

“We still have a lot of ground to cover on T-Cross and T-Roc — there is still a lot of ground to cover with Germany,” Bartsch said.

“The T-Cross is a matter of time, so it’s more of a timing issue. T-Roc is still a discussion. We have to make sure we can bring that car in at a price that makes sense.

“The T-Roc will be a low-volume car and when you go into that low volume you have a choice; do you bring it as one spec and position it up high? Then you know you have a very defined volume limit and when you have that, the first question is ‘does it make financial sense?’.

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“Trust me, if I could get that car I’d do it. It’s a special little thing.”

After a slow start, Volkswagen is driving hard here and internationally to claim sales in the SUV and crossover segments.

Other potential models that could be considered here include a mooted Tiguan ‘Coupe’ and a seven-seat off-roader based on the next-generation Amarok utility to take on the Toyota Prado, Ford Everest and the like.

Volkswagen’s local embrace of electric vehicles will also eventually include battery-powered SUVs.

“To us SUV is the biggest area of opportunity,” said Bartsch. “At the moment, Volkswagen only has a market coverage of 62-63 per cent and where we are losing it is in the SUV segment.”

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