Volkswagen of America will be donating Atlas vehicles to universities, colleges, technical, and trade schools with automotive programs throughout the United States and will assist with developing future Volkswagen-trained technicians.

“These vehicles will be essential in assisting the next generation of Volkswagen technicians to interact with and learn the latest technology that is part of our exciting model lineup” said John Peterson, Director of Fixed Operations.

This is part of the automaker’s Drive Bigger initiative, and is joining with local dealers to donate the vehicles.

Schools receiving the Atlas vehicle are:

• Automotive Training Center (Warminster, PA)

• Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (Cincinnati, OH)

• Hudson Valley Community College (Troy, NY)

• Lincoln Technical Institute (Mahwah, NJ)

• MassBay Community College Automotive Technology Center (Ashland, MA)

• Medina County Career Center (Medina, OH)

• Saline High School (Saline, MI)

• Suffolk County Community College (Centereach, NY)

• SUNY Canton Automotive Technology (Canton, NY)

These donations will allow students to train on Volkswagen vehicles utilizing the VW ODIS software used to diagnose and perform updates, according to Volkswagen. The selected schools will collaborate with local dealerships to provide supplemental assistance and instruction on the donated equipment.

In all, 34 dealers will be contributing support to nine different schools and/or training centers to help develop the future Volkswagen technician.