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Volkswagen Atlas off the table for Australia

In news that'll surprise no-one, the left-hand drive only Atlas won't be making the journey to Australia in its current generation.


Volkswagen has categorically ruled out the current-generation Atlas making the trip to Australia, with a tricky right-hand drive business case the culprit.

Speaking with media on the back of an SUV-focused dealer event in Brisbane, Paul Pottinger, Volkswagen's local head of communications, said the behemoth seven-seat SUV is just "not going to happen this generation" in Australia.

VW Australia has previously shown interest in the Subaru Ascent rival, built in Tennessee for the US market and in Tianjin for China, where it's sold as the Teramont.

When the CrossBlue Concept was released in 2014, the company said it would be "very keen" to bring it Down Under, but hopes have faded over time. Flash forward to February 2017 and it was "increasingly unlikely" we'd get the car, while February 2019 has made official what we were expecting to hear.

According to VW, the issue is right-hand drive demand. Australia isn't a big enough market to justify a right-hand drive run on its own, while the car is too large for British tastes.

Both China and North America are dominated by petrol sales, which means the Atlas/Teramont isn't offered with a diesel engine. Australia, on the other hand, is all about diesel in its big, seven-seat cars.

Although we won't be getting the Atlas, Volkswagen's SUV portfolio is set to grow over to the next 12 months. The new Touareg arrives in May, while the lower end of the market will see the arrival of the T-Cross and T-Roc in early 2020.

The two small crossovers, based on the Polo and Golf respectively, present a "significant volume opportunity" in Australia, which is growing ever fonder of cars like the Mazda CX-3 and Toyota C-HR.

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