Denza Z9 GT
Premium brand from Chinese giant BYD is heading to Europe with this intriguing Porsche Panamera rival Chinese giant BYD doesn’t really do modesty, but then its remarkable growth (founded just 22 years ago, it’s now the world's sixth largest vehicle manufacturer) has earned it the right to carry a bit of swagger.Even so, when BYD executive vice-president Stella Li describes Europe-bound premium sub Denza’s products as “10 times better than the competition”, it feels a touch bolshy, given that those rivals include the likes of Porsche and BMW.Lexus, Genesis and Infiniti (remember them?) have highlighted the huge challenge cracking the European premium market presents. But again, when you look at BYD’s track record, anything seems possible.Denza was formerly a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz before BYD took full control last year. Its flagship model is the Z9 GT, which is set to spearhead its European entry later this year. It uses the brand-specific e3 platform and Denza's engineers are currently working on a revamped version for Europe, featuring retuned suspension and steering among other changes.To generate some hype, Denza recently brought a number of Chinese-spec Z9 GTs over to Italy to give journalists a taste – albeit exclusively on a race track.
Premium brand from Chinese giant BYD is heading to Europe with this intriguing Porsche Panamera rival
Chinese giant BYD doesn’t really do modesty, but then its remarkable growth (founded just 22 years ago, it’s now the world's sixth largest vehicle manufacturer) has earned it the right to carry a bit of swagger.Even so, when BYD executive vice-president Stella Li describes Europe-bound premium sub Denza’s products as “10 times better than the competition”, it feels a touch bolshy, given that those rivals include the likes of Porsche and BMW.Lexus, Genesis and Infiniti (remember them?) have highlighted the huge challenge cracking the European premium market presents. But again, when you look at BYD’s track record, anything seems possible.Denza was formerly a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz before BYD took full control last year. Its flagship model is the Z9 GT, which is set to spearhead its European entry later this year. It uses the brand-specific e3 platform and Denza's engineers are currently working on a revamped version for Europe, featuring retuned suspension and steering among other changes.To generate some hype, Denza recently brought a number of Chinese-spec Z9 GTs over to Italy to give journalists a taste – albeit exclusively on a race track. 
