BYD’s premium brand Denza last month unveiled the Z9GT, claiming more than 1,000 km of CLTC range on China’s CLTC test cycle, which was a new benchmark for production electric cars.
Along with that, it included the brand’s latest LFP Blade Battery tech, allowing flash charging 10-70% times of just 5 minutes. The same chargers can charge the car from 10-90% in just 9 minutes, setting industry records.
Now, the brand has confirmed that this model will be arriving in Australia in the second half of this year, bringing with it the latest EV tech on offer.
Denza Australia COO Mark Harland says the Denza Z9GT will deliver exhilarating performance, extraordinary safety and genuine long-distance usability.
“Australia is a market that demands performance without compromise, and the Z9GT has been engineered to meet or exceed expectations,” he said in a statement.
In China, the upcoming Z9GT model comes with two new batteries, using BYD’s lithium iron phosphate (LFP) blade batteries 2.0 with capacities of 102 kWh and 122 kWh.
The larger 122 kWh pack delivers up to 1,036 km on CLTC, while the tri-motor version drops slightly to 1,002 km due to added power.
Specs have also shown that the model will be available in both single and tri-motor versions in the Chinese market.
The single-motor version will come with a 370 kW rear-wheel-drive configuration, while the tri-motor version will have a combined power output of 850 kW. This would help the car sprint from 0-100 km/h in 2.7 seconds.
According to Denza Australia, the tri-motor version will be the first arriving at our shores, bringing with it tri-motor EVs on the market.
Tesla Model S and Model X Plaid featured three motors but never arrived at our shores with the brand cancelling it for Australia due to no right-hand-drive production.
Crossing the 1,000 km mark is symbolically significant and, while based on China’s more generous CLTC test cycle, would likely translate to well over 800 km on the WLTP standard.
More details, including local specifications and pricing, will be announced closer to the Z9GT’s on-sale date in Q3.
Having driven the previous generation Z9 GT in Shenzhen last year, I found it more comfort-focused than outright sporty, positioning it as a long-distance tourer rather than a track weapon. I also got to see the latest version last month at Denza showrooms in Shenzhen, which arrived at the showroom less than a week after it was announced in China.
Image: Riz Akhtar
The performance figures for touring and daily driving in the Z9 GT are still well above pretty much anything else available in the Australian market.
We can’t wait to see the car in person locally and drive it in the coming months, With rapid battery development. With 10-70% charging times of 5 minutes, it’d quickly take over headlines all across mainstream media, highlighting that EVs are faster to charge than filling up at a servo.
It would put BYD and Denza at the forefront of future EV buyers with its tech reshaping expectations around what mainstream EVs can deliver.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.
