DENZA – remember when Lexus reinvigorated Toyota?

The DENZA Z9 GT: This 1156 hp, crab-walkin’, self-parkin’, family rocket ship’s a comin’!

The DENZA Z9 GT at a glance

Price	~$45,800 USD (before options)
Power:	850 kW (up to 1156 hp) with 3 motors baseline totalling 965 hp (1150Nm): 313hp (asynchronous) and 326 hp x 2 rear (synchronous)
0–100 km/h	2.7 seconds
Range	599 kms (WLTP)
Battery	122.5 kWh (120 KWh with a 2,5 buffer
Consumption efficiency	20.0 kW/100 kms
Charging	1150 kW DC fast charge — 0-100% in 13 mins; 10–80% in under 6 minutes
Dimensions	5180 mm in length, 1990 mm in width, and 1500 mm in height
Configuration	Four-door, five-seat executive liftback
Deliveries	Q4 2026 (Denza launch Sept 23, 2026)
Weight	2,875 kg (6,338 lb)
Torque	313hp (430 Nm torque) and 326 hp x 2 rear (360 Nm torque)

Let’s first introduce DENZA, a BYD sub-brand in the spirit of Lexus, Acura or Infinity, to be officially launched Sept 23, 2026. Whether it be the Z (for sport car types), BAO (for discovery types), D9 (for practical types) or the Z9GT (for the want-it-all types) DENZA has a plugged in ride for you.

THE DENZA Z9 GT

A Very Fast Station Wagon With a Refrigerator Problem

The Porsche-baiting Chinese shooting brake nobody saw coming.

射击制退再现

The first time I saw a shooting brake, the DB5 made for David Brown and his dogs, I was bouche beé (left mouth agape).

Decades later, I saw the Porsche Taycan Gran Turismo which reformed my slack-jaw. You know how working muscles seldom used elicits pain? Fast-forward to present-day; I’m in pain. But the Z9 GT isn’t just a reimagined version of others. Imagine a Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo went to a Shanghai finishing school, came back with a numerology-approved name, two onboard fridges, and enough horsepower to worry a Bugatti. That is, roughly, the Denza Z9 GT — the flagship of BYD’s premium sub-brand, Denza, and the car BYD would very much like you to compare to a Porsche, even while insisting with a straight face that it “does not have a reference competitor in mind.” Sure.

The name itself is a small marketing seminar: “Z” because it’s the last, and therefore the “highest,” letter of the alphabet, and “9” because in Chinese numerology it signifies prestige and longevity. Somewhere, a Porsche product planner is quietly Googling what “Taycan” actually means and regretting the whole exercise.

Underneath the branding poetry is a genuinely serious piece of engineering: a shooting-brake-shaped, four-wheel-steering, tyre-blowout-surviving, crab-walking electric grand tourer that can out-accelerate cars costing twice as much, then park itself sideways into a space that shouldn’t fit it, purely to make a point.

Full Specifications

Denza offers the Z9 GT in a bewildering number of trims — single motor, tri-motor, and a plug-in hybrid for the electrically cautious — so treat the figures below as “the highlights reel,” not a single fixed car. Here’s what the range spans:

Specifications	Figures
Body style	“Shooting brake” is Denza’s polite term for a very long hatchback that thinks it’s a Gran Turismo
Length / width / height	5,180–5,195 mm / 1,990 mm / 1,490 mm roughly the footprint of a small yacht
Wheelbase	3,125 mm (about 200 mm longer than a Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo)
Powertrain (flagship EV)	Tri-motor: 1 front (230 kW) + 2 rear (310 kW each)
Total system output	850 kW / ~1,140 hp — more than a Bugatti Veyron, for the price of a nice house
0–100 km/h (0–62 mph)	2.7 seconds, or about the time it takes to say “wait, what?”
Top speed	270 km/h (168 mph)
Battery options	102.3 kWh or 122.5 kWh — second-gen Blade LFP
Range (CLTC)	Up to 1,036 km (644 mi) on the big pack, the “world’s longest-range EV” claim
Range (realistic, EPA-style)	≈726 km (451 mi) once you subtract China’s famously generous test cycle
Charging	Up to 270 kW on normal DC fast chargers; up to 1 MW on BYD’s own Flash Charging stations
Charge time (10–70%)	About 5 minutes; 9 minutes 8 seconds for 10–97%
Also available as	A plug-in hybrid, with a 2.0T four-cylinder plus up to three motors, for the range-anxious traditionalist
Party tricks	Crab-walk lane changes, tank-turn parking, tyre-blowout stabilization at up to 180 km/h (111 mph)
Interior highlights	Massaging four seats, Nappa leather throughout, up to 26-speaker Dynaudio system, dual onboard fridges
Estimated price (Europe)	From roughly €117,500 (EV) / €103,500 (DM-i hybrid); UK figures nearer £100,000–£143,000

NB. Figures compiled from BYD/Denza regulatory filings and press materials; CLTC range claims are China’s famously optimistic test cycle, roughly 30% more generous than the EPA cycle used in the US.

The driver can choose between 5 modes:

• Sport: Dynamic steering, low ride height, and dynamic throttle and suspension damping.
• Standard: Balanced steering, throttle response, and suspension damping, with normal ride height.
• Economy: Balanced steering, low ride height, balanced suspension damping, and efficiency-oriented throttle response.
• Racing: Dynamic steering, low ride height, and dynamic throttle and suspension damping.
• Snow: Balanced steering and suspension damping, with efficient throttle.

The Party Tricks

On spec alone the Z9 GT would already be interesting. What makes it borderline absurd is the options list of physics-adjacent features Denza built in seemingly because it could:

● Crab walking: All four wheels steer in the same direction, letting the car shuffle sideways into a parking space like a very expensive hermit crab.

● Tank-turn U-turns: A full 360° rotation on the spot, for owners who have given up on three-point turns entirely.

● Blowout stability control: The car claims to keep itself composed even with a fully deflated tyre at up to 180 km/h, which is either brilliant engineering or a mild horror-movie premise, depending on your outlook.

● 9-minute full charges: Thanks to second-generation Blade batteries and up to 1 MW “Flash Charging,” on the (currently rare) chargers that can actually deliver it.

● Two fridges: One under the front armrest, one between the rear seats, because nothing says “grand touring” like cold drinks for everyone, including the trunk.

The Z9GT participated in a 1000 km challenge with a constant speed of 120 km/h (75 mph) and an assumed consumption rate of 22 kWh/100 km, the trip would take about 8 hours and 33 minutes. Sound meh? Well consider that the completion of the challenge included only one charging stops, from 4% to 88%, totalling 13 minutes of charging time.

Meet the Competition

Denza’s own executives insist the Z9 GT isn’t chasing any particular rival. The car’s proportions, positioning, price, and press kit say otherwise — this is a direct shot across Porsche’s bow, with Tesla and BMW roped in as collateral damage. Here’s how the numbers stack up against the usual suspects in this admittedly tiny, admittedly ridiculous segment of “electric cars that also happen to be faster than a Formula 1 safety car”:

	Denza Z9 GT (tri-motor)	Porsche Taycan (Turbo S Sport Turismo)	Tesla Model S Plaid	BMW i5 M60 Touring
Power	1,140 hp	~938 hp (overboost)	1,020 hp	593 hp
0–100 km/h	2.7 s	~2.4 s	~2.1 s	~3.8 s
Range (WLTP-ish)	~726 km real-world	~470 km	~600 km (EPA)	~516 km
Length	5,180–5,195 mm	4,963 mm	4,979 mm	4,930 mm
Fridges included	Two	Zero, but there’s a frunk	Zero, but there’s “Dog Mode”	Zero, but there’s a badge
Starting price (approx.)	€117,500+	€200,000+	~€110,000	~€100,000
Badge-snob approval	Rising fast, still earning it	Maximum	High, if you ignore the panel gaps	High, very high

Competitor figures are approximate and vary by trim/market; treat this as a vibe check, not a spec sheet for a courtroom.

Porsche Taycan

The Taycan is still the benchmark for “an EV that drives like it means it”, tighter, more communicative, and dripping in the kind of badge equity that BYD is, frankly, still buying its way toward. It’s also considerably smaller, noticeably pricier, and comes with precisely zero onboard refrigeration. The Z9 GT counters with more space, more range, more motors, and a sticker price that, even at luxury-Chinese-brand markup, still undercuts a comparable Taycan by a healthy margin.

Tesla Model S Plaid

The Plaid remains the straight-line bully of this group, and its Supercharger network is a real, tangible advantage the Z9 GT can’t match outside China. But the Model S’s interior has aged like milk left in a car without a fridge, which, ironically, is one area where the Denza has it soundly beaten, twice over.

BMW i5 M60 Touring

The most “sensible” comparison here, mostly because it’s also a very fast electric wagon aimed at people with families and a taste for drama. The BMW is quicker to feel planted in a corner; the Denza is quicker in a straight line, longer in the wheelbase, and considerably more likely to make your neighbours ask what on earth they just watched reverse into a driveway sideways.

The Verdict

The Denza Z9 GT is what happens when a company with essentially unlimited battery-manufacturing muscle decides to build a Porsche-fighter and then, having built it, keeps adding features until the car can survive a blown tyre at speed, park itself like a crab, and chill your drinks on the way to a corner it may or may not take as gracefully as the Taycan does. It’s faster than it has any right to be, longer-range than it has any right to be, and depending on which trim you land on, occasionally more expensive than you’d expect for a brand most Western buyers still can’t have,…yet.

Is it better than a Porsche? Depends entirely on whether “better” means “more thrilling to drive on a mountain road” (Porsche wins) or “more likely to arrive with cold drinks, a 1,000 km range, and a party trick for the school pick-up line” (the Denza, no contest).

Bottom line: the Z9 GT isn’t just a spec-sheet flex, it’s a genuinely credible, slightly ridiculous shot at the European establishment, delivered with two fridges and a straight face.

coming up: The Denza brand; the new model line-up

DENZA models • Z9 GT • D9 • Bao 5 • Z