German luxury auto brand Audi unveiled its full-size Q9 SUV on Tuesday.

It is the first so-named vehicle for Audi and the latest in a product push aimed at the heart of the American market, where the brand has struggled over the past several quarters.

The three-row Q9 and a high-performance SQ9 variant will together be the brand’s flagship U.S. model, joining two other SUVs Audi has already unveiled this year — the compact Q3 and midsize Q7 SUVs, which were revealed in March and June, respectively.

Filip Brabec, Audi of America senior vice president of product management, said the Q9 was made primarily with the U.S. consumer in mind. The consideration extended to the six and eight-cylinder engines and large cupholders.

“If you look at our recent introductions, whether it is the Q3, whether it is this car, it really plays right into the center of what’s happening in America,” Brabec said at the vehicle reveal in New York on Tuesday. “SUVs keep growing. It’s over 80% of the of the premium space, and we have absolute top contenders in each and every part of those segments.”

The Q9 starts at $89,095 and the SQ9 at $119,395, competing in one of the most profitable, but crowded segments in the U.S. market.

“It represents the most lavish luxury car that we have in this space,” Brabec said.

The vehicle is 209 inches long end to end and 86.8 inches wide when measuring from the outer edges of the sideview mirrors. It’s slightly longer than both the Mercedes GLS and the BMW X7 and is large enough to fit adults in the third row.

In a press conference before the reveal, Brabec said the Q9 focused on three key areas: performance, space and technology.

Both versions have powertrains selected to suit American tastes. The Q9 comes with a 2.9-liter V6 engine with 429 horsepower and a 4.9 second 0-60 mph acceleration time, according to Audi. The sportier SQ9 is powered by a 4.0 liter V8 with 591 horsepower, 590 foot-pounds of torque, and a 3.8 second 0-60 mph time.

It also has a number of new features, including “matrix adaptive beam” headlights, which have been available in Europe and elsewhere for roughly a decade but have only recently been allowed in the U.S., according to the company. The lights are made of a cluster of tiny LEDS which can shape headlight beams in ways that reduce or eliminate glare for oncoming drivers, according to Audi.

The Q9 also comes with a ChatGPT-powered voice assistant and a driver assist system that offers a hands-free function. It also has the largest moonroof Audi as ever put on a vehicle.

“This one’s going to have some real decadent features, I would almost say, like power opening doors and crazy interior materials, even by Audi standards,” said Karl Brauer, executive analyst for iSeeCars.

Audi blamed lagging U.S. performance on tariffs and the end of federal electric vehicle incentives. Analysts said the new SUVs Audi has announced this year could give the brand a needed boost. But it still has structural disadvantages compared with rivals, especially the lack of U.S. manufacturing.

Both BMW and Mercedes-Benz have fared better in recent quarters. Mercedes sales are down slightly this year through June, at about 3.5%, while BMW sales were up 4.7% in the same period.

“They are watching things like the [Mercedes-Benz] GLS and the and the [BMW] X7, and they’re just saying to themselves, ‘We need more.’ We need more space, but what we really need is more MSRP and more profit,” Brauer said.

By the 2000s, Audi leadership — especially former Audi and Volkswagen boss Ferdinand Piëch — had turned the automaker into a formidable rival to BMW and Mercedes. It earned a reputation for high-performance cars with acclaimed interiors and key innovations, such as its pioneering Quattro all-wheel drive system.

“Really it was kind of nipping at the heels of what used to be a duopoly of German [original equipment manufacturers],” said Tom Narayan, global autos analyst at RBC Capital Markets, referring to Audi’s success competing with BMW and Mercedes. “And through the years it had increased its market share.”

It also offered value for dollar, he said, but that pricing advantage has evaporated with the tariffs. Audi is far more exposed to tariffs than rivals. Both BMW and Mercedes have factories in the U.S., while Audi imports 100% of its product.

Volkswagen, which owns Audi, has a factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is building a factory in South Carolina for its upcoming Scout SUV brand. Audi executives have reportedly said they are considering building some SUVs at that latter plant, but the brand currently doesn’t make any vehicles in the U.S.

Being a VW Group brand, Audi also was relatively early among legacy automakers to electric vehicles, first releasing the Audi e-tron SUV in 2019. But its relatively strong EV portfolio has struggled in the U.S., where pure electric vehicles made up just 5.4% of sales in June 2026, according to Cox Automotive.

“A lot of manufacturers were caught out by this,” Brauer said. “But Audi is probably one of the more substantial ones in terms of how much energy and resources they put into and expected to get back from the electric car world and how far those realities fell from expectations.”

Brauer added that the energy the brand has devoted to EVs has left its other powertrains without the attention that they needed to compete. These new SUVs are a step toward remedying that.

“It’s always amazed me how one home run with a given brand can make really all the difference,” he said.

Narayan said the new product is positive for the brand, but its larger issue is navigating the tariffs.

“I think that will still dominate their performance in the U.S.,” he said.