Denza Z9 GT: competitor to the super-successful Zeekr 001 from BYD's premium subsidiary brand

The Denza brand, owned by BYD, is trying to catch up and overtake the well-promoted electric car brand Zeekr (owned by the Geely holding) and is preparing to present at the upcoming Beijing Auto Show, a new flagship model is the large and powerful electric liftback Denza Z9 GT.

The premium Denza brand was launched in 2010 as part of a joint venture between BYD and Daimler (now Mercedes-Benz), but its commercial performance turned out to be very modest. By 2021, Mercedes-Benz finally lost interest in Denza, reduced its share in the joint venture with BYD from 50 to 10%, since then Denza is, in fact, one of the subsidiary brands of BYD, the German company is no longer even involved in the design of Denza models .

BYD is trying to make Denza a successful competitor to the Zeekr brand, whose sales are growing despite the global slowdown in demand for electric vehicles: in the first quarter in China, according to CAAM (China Automobile Manufacturers Association), 33,059 Zeekr cars were sold, which is 117% more than in January-March 2023. Denza sales for the same period, on the contrary, decreased by 1.5% to 23,804 cars.

Denza and Zeekr are not officially represented in Russia, but gray dealers have models of both brands. Zeekr now dominates the electric vehicle segment of the Russian car market, and the Zeekr 001 liftback is the most popular model — almost 2,000 units were sold in the first quarter; on the streets of large Russian cities, Zeekr 001 is perhaps even more common than in Chinese cities with a population of over a million .

Denza's best-selling model at the moment is the D9 minivan, accounting for about 90% of the brand's sales volume, while the three-row Denza N8 crossover and the coupe-shaped Denza N7 crossover are not selling well. Very soon Denza will have a fourth model with flagship status — the electric liftback Denza Z9 GT, its world premiere will take place next week at the Beijing Motor Show, and today this new product has surfaced in the electronic database of the Chinese Ministry of Industry.

As you can see from the first photos, the Denza Z9 GT is made in the same form factor as the Zeekr 001, but the Denza Z9 GT is larger, its overall length is 5180 mm, width is 1990 mm, height is 1480-1500 mm depending on the modification , wheelbase — 3125 mm. Overall length of the recently updated Zeekr 001 is 4977 mm, width is 1999 mm, height is 1533-1545 mm depending on the modification, wheelbase is 3005 mm.

For the Denza Z9 GT, the Chinese Ministry of Industry currently has only one electric three-motor power plant with a total power of 710 kW (965 hp) — this is probably the top one and the most expensive modification, its maximum speed is 240 km/h. The Denza Z9 GT will be equipped with adaptive air suspension and a retractable lower spoiler on the tailgate. Standard wheels are 20 or 21 inches. Curb weight — 2875 kg. Other technical details have not yet been disclosed.

We add that this year the Beijing Auto Show is expected to literally a flurry of new products, we will try to talk about all the main and simply interesting ones.