The Denza Z9 GT Is A 952bhp Super-Estate Headed For Europe

After years of being told that Chinese car manufacturers would be getting a foothold in the European market any time now, it’s finally started happening in a meaningful way in the last year or so. If we’re honest, though, lots of the cars coming from China are, well, quite dull. This one, however, has caught our attention: it’s the Denza Z9 GT, a low-slung Porsche Taycan-rivalling estate that’ll be on sale in the UK by this time next year.

Denza began life in 2010 as a mass-market EV joint venture between Mercedes and BYD, although the Stuttgart brand became fully detached from the brand last year as it pushed upmarket. Rather ironically, Mercedes is one of the manufacturers Denza is going after with the Z9.

It’ll come with two powertrains, headlined by a full EV version with three motors – one on the front axle and two out back. In its Chinese spec, it delivers a total of 952bhp and, owing to a 101kWh battery, manages a quoted 391-mile range on China’s test cycle. 0-62mph takes a quoted 3.4 seconds. The battery is integrated into the chassis, increasing rigidity by 32 per cent.

The EV gets a central control system that can make rapid adjustments to the Z9’s brakes, suspension and steering, allowing not only for greater stability but quick reactions to situations like tyre blowouts.

Its party piece, though, is the rear-wheel dual-motor steering, which allows both rear wheels to steer independently of both the front axle and each other. In addition to the usual touted rear-wheel steering benefits – better high-speed stability and low-speed manoeuvrability – this allows the Z9 to move sideways at up to a 15-degree angle, allowing it to crab its way into parking spaces.

Delivering only moderately less impressive specs is a plug-in hybrid, which retains the same two rear-wheel motors as the full EV, but gets a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder with 204bhp and 240lb ft up front. In combination with the e-motors, this makes a peak of 858bhp, making for a quoted 0-62mph time of 3.6 seconds. Electric-only range is quoted at 125 miles, although again, all these specs are for the Chinese market and could change for Europe. The PHEV gets the same tricksy control unit and party piece steering, too.

The Z9 GT’s cabin is unsurprisingly a screen-fest: there’s a gigantic 17.3-inch central screen, plus dual 13.2-inch displays for the driver and passenger. It gets cameras instead of door mirrors, too. The seats have heating, ventilation and massaging functions for both front and rear occupants, while the fronts also get active side bolsters driven by the same air tanks as the Z9’s air suspension.

The super-swoopy exterior styling, meanwhile, is apparently inspired by flowing silk. Cover the car with a silk sheet, says design director Wolfgang Egger, and the material “falls naturally and covers the body but still shows, under the surface, the beauty of what is already there.” If Egger’s name sounds familiar, by the way, it’s because his past credits as lead designer include the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and 2010’s Audi Quattro Concept. He knows what he’s doing, then.

All in all, the Z9 GT sounds like a very credible competitor to things like the Taycan, although while that car comes as both a saloon and Sport Turismo, we’ll only be getting the Z9 in estate form. The final proof, though, will be in the way the Z9 drives, which we’ll find out when it arrives in the UK in late 2025 or early 2026.