NEW YORK MOTOR SHOW: New Volkswagen Atlas five-seat SUV teased

Volkswagen has today announced it will unveil a trendy new version of its large SUV, the Atlas, in a five-seat configuration.

The current seven-seat Volkswagen Atlas is built in the USA primarily for that market and is not available in Australia, although the company hasn't been shy about its desire to bring the Atlas to Australia.

Only preview sketches of the new vehicle have been released by Volkswagen, but it's clear the design will be sportier than the utilitarian seven-seater model.

According to Volkswagen the "near-production concept car impresses with a sporty, compact rear body in coupé style". The roof slopes down towards the rear thanks to more angled C-pillars, which weren’t possible in the seven-seater Atlas because of the two extra seats in the cargo area.

The new vehicle will be based on the same (MQB) platform as the seven-seat Volkswagen Atlas and will be built at the same Chatanooga factory in Tennessee as it's bigger brother.

Volkswagen has confirmed it will be fitted with all the latest technology, including an eight-speed automatic transmission, all-wheel drive, radar cruise control, lane keeping assist and autonomous emergency braking (AEB). In other words, it will be able to accelerate, brake and steer by itself.

At this stage it's unlikely we'll see the new sporty Volkswagen Atlas five-seat vehicle in Australia, or any Atlas for that matter.

"We're currently working on an SUV line-up comprising T-Cross, T-Roc, Tiguan, Tiguan Allspace and Touareg," said Paul Pottinger, Volkswagen Australia's general manager of corporate communications.

"The Atlas is being built in left-hand-drive only for the forseeable future. If that changes, we’d be interested in either or both variants," he added.