Chinese luxury brand Denza to take on BMW, Mercedes, Audi from 2025

Add Denza to the list of new brands planning to make an impact in Australia.

It joins about a dozen mostly unheard-of brands – mostly from China – planning to carve a slice of the Australian new-car market.

But rather than playing at the entry-level of the market, the BYD-owned newcomer is hoping to tempt luxury buyers away from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and even Porsche showrooms as of next year with the just-revealed Z9 GT.

Denza will launch Down Under next year as one of three BYD-owned sub-brands earmarked for Australia – alongside Fang Cheng Bao and Yangwang – as confirmed by BYD Asia Pacific sales general manager Liu Xueliang.

“The next sub-brand we’re going to bring to Australia will be Denza,” he told carsales.

Until earlier this month, Denza was a joint venture between BYD and Mercedes-Benz, but the German giant sold its remaining 10 per cent stake back to BYD, now the top selling brand in China and the manufacturer providing the strongest EV competition to Tesla.

Now Denza will be lining up in Australia, tackling not only the German big players but also newcomers such as Genesis and soon-to-arrive Cadillac.

As Genesis, Lexus and the now-gone Infiniti have learnt, you typically need deep pockets to establish a new brand, especially a luxury one competing against the best brands in motoring.

But parent company BYD certainly has that, as well as a desire to cover every key market segment, from entry-level city cars and four-wheel drives to supercars and uber-luxury machines.

The Chinese brand has previously said it will topple Toyota for sales in Australia within a couple of years and the arrival of Denza – unlikely to be a high-volume play – will add incremental sales to the tally.

In China, Denza sells the D9 people mover as well as the N7 and N8 SUVs, but its line-up is set to expand as it looks to more seriously take on the luxury establishment.

It this month revealed the Z9 GT, a high performance five-door grand tourer that looks as though it drew inspiration from the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo.

The Z9 GT is set to spearhead the local Denza luxury car attack when it arrives in Australia in 2025, motivated by either a tri-motor battery-electric powertrain (740kW) or a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol-electric plug-in system good for 640kW.

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