Chinese sports car Denza Z debuts in Britain and promises Nürburgring record

The Denza brand, owned by BYD, has unveiled its electric sports car, the Denza Z, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, aimed primarily at the European market. Sales of the Denza Z will begin before the end of this year, with the sports car offered in both coupé and convertible bodystyles. All versions are equipped with a three-motor powertrain producing 1,604 bhp.

The Denza Z was first shown as a concept in the spring of last year at the Shanghai Motor Show, and today its production version has been revealed. The Chinese 'Z' (not to be confused with the Nissan Z) is positioned as an electric alternative to the Porsche 911, which, as is well known, has no intention of going fully electric. The design of the Denza Z was developed under the direction of the highly experienced Wolfgang Egger (BYD's design director since 2016), who previously worked at Alfa Romeo, Seat, Lancia, Audi and Lamborghini.

The Denza Z is based on the e 3 Sports Car Platform. The sports car will be offered in three versions — Coupé, Spider (convertible) and Racing (a coupé honed for the race track). The bodyshell, with a 2+2 seating layout, is constructed from steel and aluminium, with a claimed torsional rigidity of 40,000 Nm/degree for the coupé. The front suspension uses double wishbones, while the rear is an independent multi-link setup. All versions feature adaptive dampers with magnetorheological fluid; the Coupé and Spider versions use air springs as the elastic elements, while the Racing version uses coil springs. The brakes are carbon-ceramic with six-piston calipers on the front axle and four-piston calipers at the rear.

The overall length of the Denza Z Coupé is 4,780 mm, width 1,975 mm, height 1,330 mm, with a wheelbase of 2,780 mm. The convertible's height increases to 1,350 mm. The Racing version is slightly larger due to its extensive aerodynamic package: length 4,870 mm, width 1,990 mm, height 1,350 mm. The kerb weight of the Denza Z ranges from 2,230 to 2,300 kg. The Racing version is easily identifiable by its fixed rear wing; the aggressive aerodynamic package generates up to 1,060 kg of downforce at 350 km/h.

The interior of the Denza Z is uncomplicated but tidy. The chunky steering wheel features large buttons for activating various driving modes, the instrument screen is 8.88 inches, and the multimedia display is 12.8 inches with built-in Google services. The powerful audio system is supplied by Devialet (12 speakers in the coupé, 10 in the convertible). Boot capacity is 250 litres for the coupé, while the convertible offers 131 litres with the roof down and 176 litres with the roof up.

The powertrain across all versions is a three-motor setup (one motor on the front axle, two at the rear), with a maximum combined output of 1,180 kW (1,604 bhp) and 1,240 Nm. The lithium iron phosphate battery cells are packaged directly into the bodyshell without an intermediate casing. Battery capacity is 76 kWh. The maximum charging power is 1,500 kW! At this rate, the battery can be topped up from 10% to 97% in just nine minutes. Range on a single charge is 409 km on the WLTP cycle for the Coupé, 399 km for the Spider, and 380 km for the Racing version.

The Denza Z Coupé and Racing accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 2.25 seconds, with a top speed of 300 km/h. On semi-slick tyres, the Denza Z Racing can reach 100 km/h in 1.96 seconds, with the top speed increasing to 350 km/h. The Denza Z Spider reaches 100 km/h in 2.3 seconds, with a top speed of 300 km/h.

Later, a more extreme version of the Denza Z will appear with a powertrain producing 2,000 bhp and a 0-100 km/h time of under 1.7 seconds. An even more aggressive aerodynamic package will generate up to 2,000 kg of downforce at 300 km/h. This version will attempt to set a new Nürburgring record for production electric vehicles. The current record belongs to the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT Manthey Kit — 6 min 55.533 sec, while the previous record was set by the Yangwang U9 Xtreme — 6 min 59.157 sec.

The Denza Z sports car will arrive at European BYD dealers before the end of this year, with order books opening as early as summer. Prices were not stated in the press release, but have been published by CnEVPost: the Denza Z Coupé will cost from £142,900 in the UK, the Denza Z Spider from £159,900, and the Denza Z Racing from £172,900.