The Denza Z9 GT is not a name most British buyers recognise yet, but that is likely to change. It comes from Denza, a luxury brand spun off from BYD, positioned the way Lexus is to Toyota. The fully electric version arrives in the UK at approximately £105,000 and delivers figures that give cars costing twice as much something to worry about. Three electric motors produce 1,156 PS and 1,200 Newton metres of torque, in a car that weighs 2.8 tonnes. Despite that weight, it reaches 62 mph in 2.7 seconds, just a fraction behind a Porsche Taycan Turbo S. A 122 kWh battery supports a 600 km WLTP range claim. And it charges from 10 to 97 percent in nine minutes. That figure is not an error.
That nine-minute charging time depends on BYD's own flash chargers, and the way those chargers work is worth understanding. Rather than drawing multi-megawatt power directly from the grid, they store energy in BYD's second-generation Blade Battery packs and release it at speed when a car arrives. A modest grid connection of a few hundred kilowatts is all that is needed to deliver multi-megawatt charging performance. During Autotrader's controlled demonstration, charging speed peaked at 2 km per second and held above 1 km per second throughout. After four minutes, the battery was past 75 percent. At minus 30 degrees Celsius, the battery only needs three extra minutes to reach the same charge level. Denza plans to have 3,000 of these chargers across Europe within 12 months, with 300 earmarked for the UK.
Rory Reid had three hours with the car on French roads, which is a compressed window for a vehicle this involved. The interior makes a strong impression: Nappa leather throughout, real wood on the dashboard, crystal toggle buttons for key functions, a head-up display that appears to span roughly 50 inches, and a separate passenger screen for YouTube, karaoke, and gaming. The centre console hides a double-hinged refrigerator that can both cool and heat. Rear seats include heating, cooling, and massage. Suspension runs a double wishbone layout at the front and five links at the rear, with dual-chamber air springs that switch between firm and soft. Carbon ceramic brakes are standard. The rear-wheel steering system generates a 4.6-metre turning circle, tighter than a London black cab, and enables three party tricks: an intelligent crab walk mode where all wheels steer in the same direction for diagonal movement, a pencil compass turn that spins the car on the spot for tight U-turns, and a dedicated drift mode that Reid did not get the chance to try.
Bottom line: Reid left the Z9 GT impressed by what it can do and still undecided about whether the exterior design makes the price feel justified at first glance. The cars this competes against from BMW, Audi, and Mercedes tend to earn their money on looks before you read the spec sheet. The Z9 GT earns its money on the spec sheet, and the spec sheet is hard to argue with.