Volkswagen has decided not to send the current generation Touareg to the US, where buyers rely on the less refined Atlas. The large SUV has been on the market since 2017 and has already undergone two renovations. Of course, work is already underway on the second generation, which you can preview here. Technically speaking, it is a Volkswagen Teramont Pro, i.e. the Chinese version of the model from the SAIC-VW joint venture.
The boxy SUV has yet to be officially launched in China, but China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has released that it is already known. Every new car registered there goes through a special process, in which informative pictures are published on the MIIT website. This has been happening for years, but automakers don't seem to have a problem with a central government ministry revealing the design of future cars.
Let's talk about design. Not particularly exciting, is it? Judging by the front air intakes, there are two different trim levels. On the white version of the Teramont Pro, they are much larger, which suggests that it is a sportier version, which is probably also more expensive. It's not yet known if the corresponding US version is in R-Line trim or not, but it will likely look pretty much the same. The Chinese model has an R logo behind the radiator grille cover.
Design-wise, it's clearly different from the current Atlas model, but not necessarily for the better. It looks pretty lackluster from almost every angle. The front and rear give the impression of an oversized Tiguan, while the sides have a smoother profile with contoured door handles. The old Atlas wasn't exactly a pretty SUV either, but its successor looks even more arbitrary. In addition to these pictures (unfortunately, there are no interior shots), the MIIT website also lists some technical data. We learned that the Teramont Pro for China is 5,16 meters long, 1,99 meters wide and 1,78 meters tall. The wheelbase is 2,98 meters for the three-door SUV, which weighs approximately 2150 kilograms. Compared to the Atlas model, it is six centimeters longer, but has the same wheelbase and width and almost the same height.
Power is provided by a 2,0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine with 272 hp that drives all four wheels, as revealed by the 4Motion designation. Nothing is known about the naturally aspirated 3,6-liter VR6 engine, but be warned that the US model is phasing it out with the 2024 model year. In China, a more powerful 2,5-liter V6 turbo engine is available in the first generation Teramont. The next-generation American Atlas is expected to debut in the 2026 model year, and officially sometime in 2025. SAIC-VW is likely to lift the veil on the China-specific Teramont Pro model before then.
