Autoblog and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.Shown at Goodwood alongside a broader BYD Group display, the Denza Z is the first car built on the brand's new e3 Sports Car Platform and arrives in Coupe, Spider, and Racing forms, with a hotter Special Edition earmarked for a Nurburgring record attempt later this year. Designed under Wolfgang Egger, whose past work includes cars for Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, and Audi, the four-seat Z is Denza's statement that Chinese performance EVs can now play at the very top. The catch for American enthusiasts is that BYD does not sell passenger cars in the US, so this one is a spectator sport here.Denza ZDenzaTriple-motor power and performanceThe Z's e3 platform pairs a single front motor with two independent rear motors, one for each wheel, for a combined 1,582 horsepower and 915 lb.ft of torque. That is enough for a claimed 0-to-62-mph time of 2.25 seconds in the Coupe and about 2.3 seconds in the Spider, both topping out at 186 mph. Fit the Racing version with its optional semi-slick tires, and Denza claims 1.96 seconds to 62 mph and a 217-mph top speed, while the track-focused Special Edition is said to make more than 1,970 horsepower for its Nurburgring run.Denza ZDenzaThe chassis technology is just as ambitious. The Z uses steer-by-wire, which Denza says is the first fully in-house system of its kind from China, along with DiSus-M magnetorheological suspension that can change stiffness in under 10 milliseconds and even pivot the car around its front axle. Carbon-ceramic brakes with six-piston front calipers handle the stopping.Charging that rivals a fill-upUnderpinning the Z is a second-generation Blade battery of 76 kWh, mounted into the structure using BYD's Cell-to-Body construction. The headline is Flash Charging, which can deliver up to 1,500 kW through a single connector, enough to refill from 10% to 70% in about 5 minutes and from 10% to 97% in about 9 minutes, roughly matching the time it takes to fill a gas tank.Denza ZDenzaRange lands at an estimated 254 miles for the Coupe, 248 for the Spider, and 236 for the Racing on the European cycle. The obvious asterisk is infrastructure, since those charging speeds require Flash Charging hardware that BYD is only now rolling out, with a few hundred UK sites and a few thousand across Europe planned by the end of the year.Four seats, luxury tech, and a pointed priceUnusually for a supercar, the Z seats four, and every seat features massage and ventilation. The cabin features an 8.8-inch driver display, a 12.8-inch infotainment screen with Google built in, and a 12-speaker Devialet sound system, with air suspension on the Coupe and Spider and track-oriented coil springs on the Racing.Denza ZDenzaAdvertisementAdvertisementPricing is where the intent becomes obvious. In the UK, the Coupe starts at £142,900, the Spider at £159,900, and the Racing at £172,900, which undercuts a Porsche 911 Turbo S while promising far more power on paper. Orders open in selected markets this summer with deliveries before year's end. Whether the Z can match Europe's icons on the things a spec sheet cannot capture, brand cachet, resale, and the way a great car feels down a road, is the real question. But as a demonstration of how far Chinese performance EVs have come, it is impossible to ignore.This story was originally published by Autoblog on Jul 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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