Volkswagen has released a teaser image of the redesigned 2027 Atlas three-row midsize SUV, the brand’s second best-selling model in the United States last year just behind the Tiguan. As the biggest model with the highest price tag, the Atlas is obviously a big deal for VW and it needs to be successful, especially as the automaker’s US sales dropped 13% last year.
The photo shows a close-up of the family SUV’s rear end, revealing the taillight shape and light signature at night. As with the latest Tiguan, the 2027 Atlas adopts an LED light bar that spans the entire width of the tailgate, reaching from one taillight to the other and lighting up the VW logo halfway through.
Volkswagen says the 2027 Atlas will feature “strong, muscular proportions and sleeker exterior surfacing,” with an “all-new sheetmetal. Still, the single teaser image released doesn’t provide much visual confirmation of that. However, the shape of the taillight and they way it lights up into multiple rectangular segments gives us a sense of deja-vu.
China’s VW Teramont Pro Provides the Template
Volkswagen China
If you’re familiar with Volkswagen’s global lineup, you might have seen the exact same taillight on another SUV, the all-new Teramont Pro that SAIC-Volkswagen launched in China a year ago. Since the outgoing Atlas was also twinned with the Chinese-market Teramont, we can expect this affiliation to continue.
Recent spy shots of the 2027 VW Atlas certainly confirm that, as the prototypes being tested in North America look very similar to the production Teramont Pro that’s already on sale in China. Compared to the current Atlas, the new one will look much more modern, aligning itself with VW’s new design direction, just like the Tiguan.
Volkswagen China
Design highlights of the Teramont Pro include a more angular front end design with sharper-looking headlights and DRLs integrated into the enclosed upper grille, a smoother side profile with less creases and more generous rearmost windows, a more subtle belt line, gloss black accents in the lower half of the vehicle, and a sportier-looking rear end.
If the Teramont Pro is anything to go by, the 2027 Atlas’ interior should be a big step up from the current Atlas as well. The Chinese model gets three displays in the dash (here’s hoping some physical buttons will also be present), 30-color ambient lighting, panoramic sunroof, Harman Kardon sound system, fragrance diffuser, and a front passenger seat featuring an electric footrest as well as massage and ventilation.
New MQB Evo Platform and Fifth-Gen EA888 2.0L Turbo Engine
Volkswagen China
As with the Teramont Pro, the 2027 Volkswagen Atlas will shift to the MQB Evo platform underneath the revised sheetmetal. Power will come from a standard 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder from the fifth-generation EA888 engine family, mated to an 8-speed automatic and 4Matic all-wheel drive.
In the US-spec Tiguan, the same engine is rated at 268 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque, which means the new Atlas may get less torque than the outgoing model’s 273 lb-ft. However, China’s Teramont Pro extracts 295 lb-ft of torque from the same motor. That would be a welcome upgrade for the Atlas, enabling it to retain or even best the current model’s towing capacity of up to 5,000 lbs.
No other powertrains were confirmed, but given that many of the Atlas’ rivals feature hybrid powertrains, VW could offer one too later on. We’ll learn more next month, when the 2027 VW Atlas will officially debut at the New York International Auto Show (April 3-12) before reaching dealerships in the fall.
Volkswagen China
