Coming Soon | BYD launches Denza luxury brand with Porsche-rivalling Z9 GT

The ‘luxury offshoot brand’ is a road well-travelled. Toyota has Lexus. Hyundai has Genesis. Sainsbury’s has Taste The Difference. And now BYD has Denza. From early 2026, probably, you’ll be able to spend a lot of money on a Denza, courtesy of the people that bring you BYD. We went to Milan for the official ‘brand launch’ and sampled the Denza Z9 GT, albeit very briefly. But it was enough to determine that in Denza, BYD might… just might…have created something significant.
Here's everything we know so far about Denza and the Z9 GT specifically…

First things first. The Z9 GT is very… Porsche, right? Kind of what would happen if Rockstar added a ‘Taycan Sport Turismo-inspired’ car to Grand Theft Auto Online. That’s not an entirely unfair comment, either, because one Denza engineer did cite the Porsche Panamera as an inspiration. That said, at the car’s launch press conference in Milan – chosen because it’s currently design week, apparently – all the talk was of “silk” being the main inspiration. Here’s a quote:
“Silk is more than a material. It’s a culture. A philosophy. With its elegance in flow, it affects car design. Watch silk fall. It doesn’t fight gravity. It dances with it. Flowing, floating, turning resistance into grace.” And they say designers talk a load of…

If Denza is going to make any sort of impact on the European market, it’s going to exceed the German stuff when it comes to usable technology and interior quality. In our (albeit brief) experience with the Z9, it bodes well. Aside from talking about the gravitational dynamics of silk, BYD spent some time in Milan explaining the vast scale of its resources. It’s the biggest-selling electric vehicle producer globally, with a turnover of 101bn Euros in 2024 alone, and it has 120,000 employees across 11 centres dedicated solely to research and development. We’re told that BYD submits 45 patent applications per day, on average.
The result of this? A car that can “crab walk”, for one thing. By developing a rear-wheel steer system that can turn each wheel by (a class-leading) 15 degrees either way, the Z9 can ‘crab’ forward at an almost 45-degree angle. How purposeful it is is debatable, but it's bizarre and fascinating to see. More usefully, by turning the front and the rear wheels substantially in the opposite direction, the car – which is more than five meters long and weighs three tonnes – has a tighter turning circle than a Mini hatchback. It can also ‘tank turn’, meaning it can use its rear wheels to spin the car around on the spot, with its front wheels static. Quite good for parking, that – although the excessive rear wheel spinning means you’re more likely to be berated for donutting than applauded for your tight space skills. Still, another cool trick. Its blowout mitigation tech is an interesting safety feature, too. If you have a tyre blowout at motorway speed – an incident highly likely to throw you off the road in terrifying and random fashion – the Z9 uses instant suspension adjustments across all four wheels to keep the car completely stable. We’ve seen it work. It’s impressive. And the Z9’s interior feels very high quality, albeit without breaking much ground. Massive central touchscreen? CHECK! Passenger-side Netflix-ready screen? CHECK! Masses of leather? CHECK! Four refrigerators? HALF CHECK! (There are two.) It’s all delightful. Even the electric window motors are among the quietest you’ll (barely) hear. And to drive it wafts along like cigar smoke rolling over a vintage chesterfield. Mind, that could change if and when Denza's engineers decide to make the Z9 “a bit more BMW.” Which they say they probably will.

There are two versions of the Z9, a petrol-electric hybrid and a full electric model. They’re alarmingly powerful. And very impressive. The hybrid combines a 2.0-litre petrol engine with three electric motors for an 870-horsepower total. That’s the one we’ve driven. It hits 62mph in 3.6 seconds (the same as an Aston Martin Vantage), and yet has an electric-only range of more than 100 miles in real life. That’s huge for a hybrid. The fully electric model has 960-horsepower, is even quicker and almost 400 miles of battery range.

Denza showrooms will start springing up in the UK early in 2026 and, again, we’re not sure that the first car to occupy them will be the Z9 GT here. BYD could smooth things over with a cheaper model to begin with – which could be wise, because the Z9 GT will cost at least £75,000. That’s for the hybrid. Add at least ten grand for the EV. For context, a BMW iX is £70,000. That’s one of the best electric cars ever made from one of the most well-established premium car brands on the planet. Denza has its work cut out.