Hollis Johnson
The 2018 VW Atlas.
- The Ford Explorer is the reigning Great American SUV, first sold in 1991.
- The 2018 Volkswagen Atlas is the German automaker's attempt to tackle the Explorer's market.
- We liked the Atlas enough to say that it's a winner against the longtime champ - for now.
The US auto market is all about SUVs right now. Luckily for Ford, its Explorer model has been around for almost three decades and has proven its worth. More recently, it's been attracting buyers who might otherwise choose an established luxury brand.
VW, by contrast, has for years been trying to sell the wrong cars to Americans. But for the 2018 model year, the German marque finally rolled out a true three-row SUV and gave it a normal name: Atlas.
We checked out both vehicles last year. Could the upstart dethrone the champ?
Photos by Hollis Johnson unless otherwise indicated.
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