Chinese cars may not be universally dirt cheap anymore in the sense that they’re not all $10,000 subcompacts, but they’re still arguably unbeatable when it comes to value for money. This apparently applies to its supercars as well, because debuting at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is the Denza Z, a 1,580-horsepower electric two-door from Chinese auto giant BYD that can go from 0 to 62 mph in about 2 seconds and charge nearly its entire battery in under 10 minutes. It’ll also happen to cost less than Porsche’s mid-level 911 Carrera GTS.
The Denza Z uses three electric motors (two in the back, one in the front), letting the standard Coupe model get from zero to 62 mph in 2.25 seconds and top out at 186 mph. The more aggressive Racing version on semi-slicks, meanwhile, accelerates to 62 mph in 1.96 seconds and can do 217 mph.
BYD
That Racing version (above)Â replaces the regular version’s air suspension with track-focused coil springs and adds tweaked front cooling, a carbon-fiber front splitter, vortex generators on the underbody, and an adjustable rear spoiler made of carbon fiber. The rear seats of the Racing can be replaced with a roll cage and carbon trim. Magnetic adjustable dampers and carbon-ceramic brakes are standard, and there’s a convertible Spider model for those who want to go really fast in a Chinese EV but also look at the sky. In case you’re unfamiliar, Denza is BYD’s luxury arm, much like, say, Lexus is to Toyota.
Beautiful, livable, coming to the ‘Ring
BYD is also bringing a Special Edition to the Nürburgring this fall so it can attempt to break some lap records. This one will get “race-grade dual-layer composite bodywork” (read: carbon body panels) as well as an active front diffuser and a rear wing flap that can cut drag by up to 40% and produce more than 4,400 pounds of downforce at 186 mph. The real upgrade, however, would probably be total power of over 1,973 hp, cutting the 0-62 time down to less than 1.7 seconds.
BYD
This may all look and sound quite hardcore but, in regular guise, the Z sounds like it could serve as a decent grand tourer. It’s more than nine feet long, seats four, and has a trunk measuring 8.8 cubic feet. Inside, there’s a 12.8-inch center touchscreen and a very lucky 8.88-inch instrument display.
Penned by the same Wolfgang Egger responsible for the Alfa Romeo 8C, the Denza Z perhaps isn’t the most distinctive supercar in the world, but it’s far from bad-looking. It’s clean and unfussy; I’m particularly fond of the profile view that rocks a purposeful, beautiful, classic supercar shape.
These numbers are wild, though
The Z’s second-gen BYD Blade battery has a capacity of 76 kWh and delivers 254 miles of range (on the European WLTP cycle) in the Coupe; the heavier Spider gets 248 miles while the Racing is good for 236 miles. It uses BYD’s ridiculously quick Flash Charging that’s said to get the Z from 10% to 97% charge in nine minutes. 10% to 70%, by the way, happens in just five minutes.
BYD
The most remarkable part of all this may just be the price, because in the U.K., the Denza Z Coupe starts at £142,000, about two grand less than a base Carrera GTS in the same market. The Spider is £159,900, a tick cheaper than a Carrera 4 GTS cabriolet, while the Racing model is £172,900, more than thirty grand less than a 911 Turbo S. (At today’s exchange rates, the base Denza Z Coupe costs $192,000, about ten grand more than a 2027 911 GTS here.)
Are there things the Porsche does better than the Denza? I haven’t driven the latter, obviously, but having driven the former, I’d say it probably does. Still, though, the Z stands as a pretty astonishing achievement in terms of how much horsepower and tech you get for the dollar, and is definitely one Chinese EV we wouldn’t mind seeing on our shores.
