President Trump’s seeming determination to keep Chinese EVs out of the US is not stopping BYD’s expansion plans, with the EV giant announcing today that it is bringing its premium sub-brand Denza to Europe.
Sitting between the BYD main brand and its luxury high-end marque Yangwang, Denza is aiming to slot right into the premium auto market. The customers of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes all seem likely targets, even if Denza’s executive vice president Stella Li was reluctant to confirm that to journalists at the brand-hosted launch in Milan, Italy.
The move to launch Denza in the EU could perhaps not come at a better time for BYD. Cui Dongshu, the secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, has told Reuters that Trump’s sweeping (and now paused) tariffs are expected to have a major indirect impact on export sales—particularly in Southeast Asia nations which were hit with some of Trump’s heftiest levies. By rolling out another brand in Europe, not only will BYD continue its march toward worldwide dominance in the auto sector, it can potentially offset these Southeast Asian export losses.
At the end of March, BYD reported a record annual revenue of $107 billion for 2024. By contrast, Tesla’s revenue for the year was $97.7 billion, and its deliveries declined for the first time last year by 1.1 percent. Moreover, the vast majority of BYD’s shipments last year were to domestic customers, with a mere 10 percent exported overseas. It is no surprise then that investors and analysts are bullish on BYD’s growth potential—and Denza launching in Europe is just the latest illustration of this.
Denza’s Z9GT is launching in Europe to take on BMW, Audi, and Mercedes.
Photograph: Denza
BYD’s Denza is initially launching into Europe with a two-model lineup—the Z9GT is leading the charge, with the D9 MPV following later. The plan, Denza claims, is to eventually roll out a range of vehicles across all categories, mirroring what it has already done in China.
Denza was originally founded in 2010 as a joint venture between BYD and Mercedes-Benz, launching its first car into the Chinese market in 2014. Now wholly owned by BYD, it went through a significant rebrand in 2021, with Wolfgang Egger—who previously led design teams at Audi and Lamborghini—joining at the helm as chief designer.
The Z9GT has been chodsen by BYD as the Denza car to launch into the market because it apparently represents the “best of BYD technology and the best of BYD design,” Li says.
At its heart is Denza’s own e3 Platform, which brings a number of headline features. Certainly one of the most striking is its rear-wheel dual-motor independent steering, which enables the right and left wheels to steer independently of the front axle and of each other. As well as allowing drivers to toe in and toe out of tight spaces, it also allows the car to “crab walk”—where the auto seemingly glides in a sideways motion—up to an industry-leading angle of 15 degrees.
This eminently useful lateral trickery is all controlled by Z9GT’s Vehicle Motion Control architecture, which can take over braking, suspension, and steering—even in the case of a high-speed tire blowout, where it can adjust the torque of the unaffected tires, redistributing the power at speeds of over 110 mph.
The e3 Platform allows the Z9GT to adopt a Cell-to-Body structure, which sees the Blade Battery integrated into the car’s architecture, as seen in the BYD Seal. Aside from a stiffening boon to the chassis, this ensures a fully flat floor and helps to create an additional 15-millimeter vertical space in the cabin for as much room inside as possible.
The Chinese brand is hoping that by offering the latest auto tech it can quickly gain a foothold in the EU.
Photograph: Denza
Speaking of the interior, expect suitably premium leather seats and wooden accents across the dash, with 128-color lighting for setting the cabin ambience to your taste. Front seats will get 12-way electric adjustment and 10-point massage and heating, along with a supposedly world-first execution of active side bolsters, which share their air tanks with the car’s air suspension for additional support during cornering.
A large 17.3-inch central infotainment system floats in front of the fascia and is joined by dual ultrawide 13.2-inch screens to allow the front passenger to interact with the in-car entertainment. Extra features include a refrigerated compartment for chilling contents down to -6 degrees Celsius, and a 2.1-square-meter panoramic glass roof, plus a 20-speaker sound system from audiophile brand Devialet.
The Z9GT will offer a choice of powertrain at launch, either pure electric—launching first in November—or Super DM hybrid, which will come with a 2-liter turbocharged petrol engine and follow in February 2026. Denza says the pure-electric version will offer 0 to 60 mph acceleration in a rapid 3.4 seconds, with the hybrid promising the same in 3.6 seconds.
Of course, price will be a huge factor in how successful Denza is in its ambitions against its well-established, better-known competition. Denza and BYD are staying tight-lipped on pricing for now, so we’ll expect to hear more as we get closer to the Z9GT’s launch later this year. And as for any plans for a US launch? A quick and simple answer: “We don’t have any plans to launch any consumer car in the US,” Li says.
