Denza Z. Credit: Denza
- The Denza Z started pre-sales in China at 680,000 yuan ($100,300), about half its UK price.
- The car’s China pre-sales after its UK debut shows BYD is using high-performance technology to boost Denza’s brand image.
BYD’s (HKEX: 1211) premium brand Denza has started pre-sales of the Denza Z electric supercar in China, marking the country’s largest new energy vehicle (NEV) maker’s deeper push into the high-performance car market.
Denza announced on Monday that the Denza Z is available in 3 variants in China. The Coupe hardtop version has a pre-sales price of 680,000 yuan ($100,300), the Spider convertible version is priced at 780,000 yuan, and the Racing track version is priced at 1.18 million yuan. The car is scheduled to officially go on sale in the fourth quarter.
The Denza Z is Denza’s first all-electric two-door supercar. It made its global debut last week at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK, becoming one of the few Chinese electric sports cars attempting to enter Europe’s high-performance car market.
In the UK market, the Denza Z Coupe hardtop starts at 142,900 pounds ($191,410). The Spider soft-top convertible and Racing track versions are priced at 159,900 pounds and 172,900 pounds, respectively. The car will open for reservations in the UK in October, with deliveries to begin as soon as the end of the year.
The China pre-sales price is significantly lower than the UK starting price. That may help Denza attract high-performance EV buyers in its home market and compete for attention with models including the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra and Porsche 911.
The Denza Z design was led by renowned automotive designer Wolfgang Egger, whose works include the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione.
The new car adopts a low-slung, wide-body structure and streamlined design, with extensive use of aerodynamic components.
Its front end uses a closed-off design and is equipped with blade-style LED water-drop headlights. The front hood has built-in three-dimensional air channels to optimize heat dissipation and drag.
LiDAR units are also placed on both sides of the front end, providing perception support for the driver-assistance system.
The hardtop and track versions measure 4,870 mm in length, while the convertible measures 4,780 mm. All 3 versions are 1,990 mm wide, 1,350 mm tall, and have a wheelbase of 2,780 mm. The car offers 20-inch and 21-inch sport wheel options.
The Denza Z uses a carbon-fiber composite cage structure and is equipped with multi-piston ceramic ventilated brakes.
The hardtop version has a carbon-fiber roof and an electrically adjustable rear spoiler, while the track version uses a fixed large rear wing and more aggressive aerodynamic components.
Inside, the new car continues Denza’s family design language. The cabin has a full LCD instrument panel and a floating central control screen, while retaining some physical buttons for frequently used functions including driving modes and rear-spoiler adjustment.
The Denza Z’s system has both comfort and track interaction interfaces. The track interface can display vehicle data including motor power, battery temperature, lateral G-force and output torque.
The car is also equipped with wireless fast charging, double-layer soundproof glass and integrated leather sport bucket seats.
Performance is the Denza Z’s key selling point. The car has a tri-motor all-wheel-drive system, consisting of 1 front motor and 2 rear motors. The 3 motors have peak power of 500 kW, 340 kW and 340 kW, respectively, with combined peak system power of 1,180 kW (1,582 hp).
The Racing track version can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.96 seconds, with a top speed of 350 km/h. The Coupe hardtop and Spider convertible versions can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.25 seconds and 2.3 seconds, respectively, and both have a top speed of 300 km/h.
Denza said the Denza Z is the first electric supercar to feature BYD’s e3 technology. The system enables independent drive from 3 motors and independent steering from the 2 rear motors, making it one of BYD’s key technologies in vehicle intelligent control.
The car also uses China’s first fully in-house developed steer-by-wire system, eliminating the mechanical hard connection in a traditional steering system.
Denza said the design changes traditional steering logic and gives the chassis-control system greater freedom.
The Denza Z is also equipped with the DiSus-M intelligent magnetorheological body-control system that can adjust damping at the millisecond level and improve body posture control in high-performance driving scenarios.
All versions of the new car are equipped with the God’s Eye 5.0 advanced driver-assistance system, which optimizes perception algorithms for sports-car scenarios involving a low body and high speeds. It supports functions including highway NOA, automated parking and remote trace-back reversing.
The Denza Z uses a Blade Battery based on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. Information for the China market shows the car has a 102-kWh battery pack and comes standard with an 800V high-voltage fast-charging system. The overseas version previously disclosed usable capacity of 76 kWh.
The Denza Z is also BYD’s latest attempt to expand its premium product lineup. BYD has already demonstrated its technical capabilities in the supercar market through the Yangwang U9, while the Denza Z’s price and brand positioning are closer to a high-performance segment with broader sales potential.
Denza said it plans to have the Denza Z complete laps on the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany. The current lap record for all-electric production cars at the Nürburgring is held by the Yangwang U9 Xtreme, which is also part of the BYD group.
For BYD, the Denza Z is more than a volume product. It is more like a technology showcase, intended to prove that Chinese NEV makers can integrate electric drive, intelligent chassis and driver-assistance systems into high-performance sports cars.
As price competition in China’s EV market continues, brand premium is becoming more important. The launch of the Denza Z will test whether consumers are willing to pay more for high-performance technology from within BYD’s ecosystem.
The Denza Z comes in three variants and will open for pre-orders in the UK in October, with the earliest deliveries expected by year-end.
($1 = 6.7770 yuan, $1 = 0.7466 pounds)
