Audi Q9 UK Specification: Two Grades, One V6 Diesel and First Deliveries in November

The Audi Q9 reaches the United Kingdom as two grades with one engine. Edition 1 and Vorsprung both use a 3.0-litre V6 TDI of 299 PS, both are seven-seaters as standard, and Audi states first deliveries from November 2026. The high-performance SQ9 is not part of the UK range. For anyone importing into a right-hand-drive market, the British specification is the one that matters, because it is the only right-hand-drive Q9 Audi has published in full.

What Audi has confirmed for the UK

Audi UK lists two grades and one powertrain. The engine is a 3.0-litre V6 TDI with Audi’s MHEV plus mild-hybrid system and an electric powered compressor, rated at 299 PS. Audi AG gives the same engine as 220 kW and 630 Nm. Both grades drive all four wheels through quattro and carry adaptive air suspension and all-wheel steering as standard.

Audi describes the Q9 as the largest Audi of all time: 5.31 metres long, 2.21 metres wide across the mirrors, 1.81 metres tall, on a 3.14-metre wheelbase. That is Audi’s own measure of its own range, and on the published dimensions it holds. Audi UK quotes up to 850 litres of luggage space with the third row folded and 2,308 litres with the second and third rows folded.

Edition 1 against Vorsprung

Vorsprung is where Audi has put the technology it leads the launch on: the digital matrix headlights, the curved OLED rear panels Audi calls a world first, and the first automatic doors on any Audi. The Lounge Pack, which swaps the second-row bench for two executive chairs either side of a heated centre console and adds electric blinds, appears on the Vorsprung configurator only.

The price, and why it is not an export price

Audi UK’s recommended on-the-road price is £103,900 for Edition 1 and £113,250 for Vorsprung, checked on 28 October 2026. Audi UK states that its OTR figure includes delivery to the retailer, number plates, the new-vehicle registration fee, the first year’s Vehicle Excise Duty and VAT at 20 per cent.

Most of that is British tax and British registration. A car exported from the United Kingdom does not need UK plates or UK road tax, and HMRC zero-rates exported goods for VAT provided the conditions in its VAT Notice 703 are met in full, including export within the time limits it sets. So the OTR price is a ceiling on what the car costs at source, not the figure your landed cost is built on.

We have not printed an ex-VAT figure, because the OTR price also carries the registration fee and the first-year duty, and Audi UK does not publish the split. Dividing £103,900 by 1.2 would overstate the VAT and understate the car. The honest number is the one a seller quotes for an export sale, against a specific car.

What it means landed

A new Q9 has no age to fail against, so the import age limits that decide most used-car questions do not engage with it. What decides the landed cost is how your destination taxes a 3.0-litre diesel at 204–209 g/km of CO₂. Wherever registration tax is set by CO₂, that is the expensive end of the scale.

• Ireland charges Vehicle Registration Tax on CO₂, and anything over 190 g/km sits in Revenue’s top band, at 41 per cent of the open market selling price. Budget 2027 raises the rates for bands 3 to 20 from 1 January 2027 — our report on the Budget 2027 VRT increase sets out what that means per euro.
• Kenya, Tanzania and Sri Lanka each set their own duty and excise schedules, and those schedules change. We have not published a figure for any of them here, because a rate for this car must be confirmed with the destination’s own authority at the time you order.
• The United Kingdom itself is a source, not a destination, for this car. A British buyer orders from an Audi retailer. Our own teams can also export a right-hand-drive Q9 from Australia and New Zealand, where the grade and equipment follow that market’s own specification.

Figures are indicative and for guidance only. Actual VRT is charged on Revenue’s OMSP and varies by model, year and mileage. Always confirm current rates and your specific case with Revenue.ie before committing to a purchase.

Does this apply to you?

It applies if you are importing into a market that drives on the left and Audi has not announced the Q9 there. The UK specification is the right-hand-drive car Audi has published in full, so it is the specification you would be importing. Our companion report on which right-hand-drive markets the Audi Q9 reaches goes market by market.

It does not apply if you want the V8. The SQ9 is offered in selected markets including the United States and Canada, and Audi UK does not list it. Nor does it apply to a British buyer, who orders from a UK retailer at the OTR price, or — on current reporting — to an Irish one: Rev.ie reports the Q9 reaching Irish Audi dealers towards the end of 2026.

Move now or wait?

If the Q9 is the car you want, the timing reason to move is the November start of deliveries: the first allocation is the one with a date attached. The reasons to wait are as real. Audi has published one engine for right-hand drive, so if you need a petrol car or a plug-in hybrid, nothing on the UK price list today is it. And if your destination prices a 209 g/km diesel heavily, a lower-CO₂ car from the same showroom may land for materially less.

When you have the grade and your port settled, you can import a car from the UK with the landed figure worked out against that exact specification before you commit.

What is still unknown