Imagine you're at a Volkswagen of America boardroom meeting. The bosses walk in, flop a binder onto the head of the big round table you're sitting at, and make a proclamation. "We need a 300 hp family hauler to get Americans excited," an exec announces. You're puzzled because that sounds a lot like the Golf R wagon that broke cover just a few weeks ago—the same one that Volkswagen said it had no plans to sell in the United States.
VW Altas Cross Sport GT
After much gesticulation and conversation, it's somehow settled upon that an Atlas Cross Sport is the perfect candidate for this particular project, and so VW's engineers get to work. This brings us to today. Meet the Atlas Cross Sport GT concept: a sporty, swoopy SUV we don't need but apparently, someone must have asked for.
The recipe for this super-Atlas, you'll realize, is quite familiar. Under the hood is a 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 that makes 300 hp and is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox (or DSG in VW's marketing language) that routes power to all four wheels. It's essentially the same powertrain recipe as that of the 2018 Golf R. Except, now, it resides under Atlas Cross Sport bodywork.
A much lower right height (this thing is slammed), a set of ABT Sport HR Aerowheels, sticky summer tires, and a bespoke Eisvogelblau (Kingfisher Blue) paint job round out the exterior updates. Inside, the front and rear seats are replaced with four Recaro Sportster buckets. A rear center console takes the place of the middle seating position of the standard Atlast Cross Sport's three-across bench.
This all sounds great, and the concept looks very nice, but we can't help but think this is an answer to a question that already has an answer: the aforementioned Mk8 Golf R wagon. In fact, Volkswagen literally said in its release "the launch of the all-new Golf GTI and Golf R got us thinking about how to inject some of that VW magic into our SUVs." As in, the Golf R is the reason this concept exists. The new Golf R Wagon, for its part, makes more power and weighs less than the Atlas Cross Sport (and, therefore, offers a better power to weight ratio).
VW Altas Cross Sport GT
That said, the gargantuan size of the Atlas Cross Sport gives it a major advantage when it comes to hauling gear and the like. Whereas the Golf R wagon has a max of 60.0 cubic feet of space, the Atlas Cross Sport boasts as much as 77.0 cubes. It's worth noting, however, that the Atlas Cross Sport only has two rows, and therefore seats the same number of people as any Golf would. (Now, if VW decided to make a three-row Atlas GT concept ... )
VW Altas Cross Sport GT
Admittedly, the high-performance Atlas Cross Sport GT concept looks great in its own right, and it's exactly what we Americans get for buying so many SUVs. Even so, we can't help think that it pales in comparison to the smaller, lighter, more powerful Golf R wagon that VW refuses to sell on our shores.
-by Amaan Attar
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