2021 VW Atlas’ New Racing Green Was Borrowed And Evolved From The 1990s Passat

The 2021 VW Atlas will be available for the first time ever in Racing Green, a new color that joins the carmaker’s (pretty limited and otherwise, mundane) palette of white, black, silver, blue and red.

While this isn’t the only new color available to Atlas buyers, it is the result of a four year process that involved extensive market research. VW came to the conclusion that the typical Atlas buyer wants an SUV that’s large and practical, but also premium-looking.

The numbers also showed that in North America, white is the most popular vehicle color in the midsize SUV segment, making up 25 percent of sales. Red and blue are also popular, each having about 10 percent of sales.

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However, a larger SUV like the Atlas tends to look better with understated colors, according to V-Dub, as bold colors can appear overwhelming.

While researching new colors, VW designers looked at trends in clothing, interior design, cosmetics and architecture, and found there was a growing trend towards green.

“At the time, green was being adopted in industries like fashion, cosmetics, and interior design,” said Jung Lim Park, Senior Color & Trim Designer at the Design Center California. “When consumers are willing to invest in a color by painting their living room walls green or buying a green couch, it is a good indication they will be willing to follow a similar trend in their next vehicle.”

After they decided on green, the designers actually found this Racing Green shade in the fifth-gen Passat palette from the 1990s. In fact, this color was even considered for the 2020 Passat, and was used on the Golf R in the Spektrum program.

While the new Racing Green color for Atlas shares the same name as before, VW says has an entirely different paint code and appearance. “Previous VW models sporting the namesake color were direct callbacks to the classic British Racing Green, but the new color is a modern adaptation of it—the designers gave the classic color a darker hue and more metallic appearance to meet modern color trends,” said the German company.

What other colors are offered?

Aside from Racing Green, the 2021 Atlas comes with two other updated colors in Pyrit Silver Metallic and Aurora Red Chroma, replacing the previous silver and red colors in the nameplate’s color palette.

Pyrit Silver follows the changing color trends of silver and grey in industries like interior design (becoming lighter and more expressive), while Aurora Red Chroma is less saturated than the previous red (Fortana Red Metallic), and comes with coral hue at its base and an extra top coat for a deeper, more luxurious aesthetic.