2026 Denza Z9 GT review: powerful and loaded with tech, but there are teething issues

On sale Autumn 2026 Priced from £100,000 (est)

You may have seen a few BYD’s on the road lately and they’re doing a pretty good job of grabbing the attention of many potential value-focussed buyers. However, to cater for the luxury end of the market, you may want to look at Denza. Think how Lexus is to Toyota and you’d be about right, with the firm hoping to carve out a new niche as a premium Chinese brand. While a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version of the Z9 GT will also be available, we are behind the wheel of the pure electric version today.

Official UK prices have yet to be confirmed, but expect the PHEV model to sit around the £95,000 mark, with the EV pushing £100,000. For context, they cost about half that in their domestic market.

This electric variant uses a tri-motor setup, featuring a 308bhp motor on the front axle and two 416bhp motors at the rear, combining for a colossal 1140bhp. Because the rear wheels are powered independently, the Z9 GT boasts a few neat party tricks. These include ‘crab walking’ and turning the rear wheels in tandem to help parallel park in tight spaces- simply drive nose-in, and the rear follows.

Its 372-mile official range is average for this class, but Denza hopes its revolutionary charging tech will be the great equaliser. This could be the company’s Tesla Supercharger 'eureka' moment, and frankly, it needs one. Because while the car is objectively good - better than fine, even - it falls just short of great.

The ace up its sleeve is the ability to accept an enormous 1500kW charging speed. This allows the battery to surge from 10% to 97% in just nine minutes (stopping short of 100% to preserve battery life). Indeed, this may sound irrelevant since there's currently nowhere in the UK that actually allows you do this, but BYD has confirmed they will install 300 of these chargers over the next 12 months. Some will be found at Denza dealers, while the majority will be found at existing charging sites under the brand, Flash.

Furthermore, roof-mounted Lidar future-proofs the car for autonomous driving. Denza is banking on governments eventually changing legislation to permit higher levels of autonomy, at which point unlocking these features will simply require a software update.

What’s it like to drive?

Fast, and very heavy. Pull the paddle behind the steering wheel to activate boost mode, and its blistering 0-62mph time is entirely believable. However, while it feels quick off the line, the pace tails off beyond that initial surge, with its accelerative ability feeling more subdued at higher speeds.

We suspect this is down to its weight. At 2.9 tonnes, the Z9 GT's mass has a profound effect on its dynamics. To stop this three-tonne missile, you need serious stopping power, and the brakes are indeed strong. However, there is simply too much pedal travel before the brakes actually bite and even after more than an hour behind the wheel, the pedal remains more difficult to modulate smoothly than those in the Audi e-tron GT and Porsche Taycan.

The air suspension offers several different settings, but even the firmest mode is still remarkably soft. Hard acceleration causes the nose to lift significantly and there’s a lot of vertical body movement as it wallows over undulations. At lower speeds, there is a constant, jittery pitter-patter that reveals the ride could desperately use a touch more control for UK tastes. Things are much calmer in the e-tron GT or Taycan, but thankfully, it does settle down at motorway speeds well enough for you to dispatch serious mileage in total comfort.

Indeed, the Denza doesn’t feel as agile as those two rivals, but there isn’t too much body lean when cornering, a good amount of grip and the light steering at low speeds does build up weight to feel more precise at faster speeds.

What’s the Denza Z9 GT interior like?

There will be only one generous trim specification available in the UK, and interior quality is largely excellent.

The plastics are soft, and the leather is thick and plush. The dashboard is dominated by three fast and responsive screens: a 17.3in central infotainment touchscreen, a 13.2in digital driver's display, and a dedicated 13.2in touchscreen for the front passenger. Curiously, every test car we drove featured a homepage image of Daniel Craig - Denza’s latest brand ambassador - standing next to the vehicle.

While most functions are relegated to the central screen (including heating and ventilation), there is a handful of physical, crystal-style buttons. Unfortunately, these don't feel quite as premium to the touch as you might hope. On the plus side, every occupant benefits from a 20-speaker Devialet audio system.

The Z9 GT is strictly a four-seater, but there’s plenty of space and all four seats feature heating, cooling, and massage functions, while the two rear seats can also recline.

The boot, however, is on the small and narrow side. You get 495 litres of space with the rear seats up, which grows to 1680 litres when they are electrically folded. There is a shallow underfloor compartment, and a 53-litre 'frunk' under the bonnet to store your charging cables

2026 Denza Z9 GT Verdict

What Car? says… 

It is quite hard to pinpoint the exact buyer for the Denza Z9 GT. Taking the plunge requires leaving established premium brands to join a relatively new Chinese marque attempting to rewrite the rulebook. Despite its immense power and ground-breaking charging tech, we are not fully convinced it delivers enough of an overall 'wow' factor to guarantee that conversion.

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Denza Z9 GT

Price £100,000 (est) Engine Three electric motors Power 1140bhp Torque 892lb ft Gearbox 1-spd automatic, AWD

Battery size 122kWh (usable) 0-62mph 2.7sec Top speed 168mph Official range 372 miles

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