Denza Z9 GT, the luxury challenge from China: what the grand tourer looks like and how it challenges the German manufacturers

It has been a year since Denza and the Z9 GT made their debut in Milan at Design Week 2025. Now, after months of fine tuning to make the road behaviour close to European tastes, the Chinese grand tourer from Byd's premium brand is unveiled in Europe in the setting of the Paris Opéra and is preparing for a difficult task: to challenge the German brands on their own ground.

According to Alfredo Altavilla, Byd's special advisor for the European market, it is a difficult challenge, the classic uphill road, but not impossible because the quality of the product is there. And we have seen this for ourselves. Also optimistic is Stella Li, executive vice president of the Chinese group, who is betting, she told Il Sole 24 Ore, on the car's wow effect. And it is indeed a car that doesn't go unnoticed with its look curated by Wolfgang Egger, a famous designer, now head of style at Byd, with a past at Alfa Romeo where he designed the stupendous 8C Competizione and at Audi.

It has to be said that this is a GT that is 5.2 metres long and almost 2 metres wide. From some angles it arouses some déjà vu (a defect common to many modern cars, especially Chinese ones), perhaps we would have preferred a more aggressive nose and less twisted flanks, but fundamentally the Denza Z9 GT says its piece, in the powertrain and on board with high technology. Comfort and finish are free of criticism. Indeed, European competitors should take a good look at it to remind themselves how luxury cars should be made. Obviously, a Chinese manufacturer has far more resources, but here the result is surprising in its details and also in its versatility: comfortable front and rear, this large shooting brake is good for travelling thanks to a generous 3,125 mm wheelbase and a boot that can reach 1,680 litres capacity. There are two versions: electric from 116,450 euro, not very suitable for the Italia market, and plug-in hybrid from 102,450 euro, also OK for high-end company fleets.

The EV is a supercar that rivals the Porsche Taycan with its 1,156 hp and 1,210 Nm of torque. It sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.7 seconds and reaches 270 km/h. The 122.5 kWh cell-to-body battery offers a range of over 600 km in the Wltp cycle. And thanks to Flash Charging it can recharge from 10 to 70 per cent in five minutes and up to 97 per cent in nine minutes.

The plug-in hybrid version, the one in our test, offers a powertrain, christened DM-i, that is a real game changer: thanks to a 63.8 kWh battery it covers 200 km in Ev, well beyond the home-work range of the normal phev. The Denza Z9 GT, in this super hybrid edition, combines three electric motors with a 173 hp 2.0 turbo petrol engine for a total power output of 776 hp and a combined range of over 800 kilometres and, thanks to a 63.8 kWh battery, offers around 200 km of EV range. Behind the wheel the car is pleasant, not a blade, but it offers a good compromise between comfort and performance, also in terms of handling. And despite its imposing dimensions, agility is ensured by a turning radius of only 5.35 metres, made possible by the rear wheels steering independently. And there is no lack of the truly incredible crab parking mode, which allows impossible manoeuvres by acting on controlled rear wheel slip generated by digital systems that Byd calls E3.