US - The 100,000th Volkswagen Atlas has been made at the company's Chattanooga plant in Tennessee, just a year after it started making the model. This comes soon after VW achieved record sales for its SUVs.

"Our objective for the Atlas has been to assemble an SUV in America for Americans and we have been very encouraged by the success of the vehicle so far," stated Antonio Pinto, CEO of VW Chattanooga. "This is just the first of many production milestones we anticipate celebrating for the Atlas, and it would not have been possible without the world-class team here in Chattanooga."

VW of America reported sales of 32,255 units in August 2018, marking a 0.7% increase over the same period in 2017 and the eight consecutive month of growth. It said that demand for the Atlas and Tiguan contributed for nearly half of its total sales between January and August.

As well as producing the Atlas, VW assembles the Passat at Chattanooga. The company also recently stated that it would make a new five-seater SUV at the plant, which, like the Atlas, is to be based on the MQB platform. The new model represents an investment of $340m, while an additional $900m has been earmarked to expand the factory.