A luxury sedan is usually built around comfort, sophistication and a bit of confidence. It doesn’t have the kind of numbers you’d expect from a supercar. Denja The Z9S clearly has other ideas.
BYD’s premium brand has taken a luxurious grand tourer-style sedan and given the top-spec version performance figures that wouldn’t look out of place on a Ferrari or Bugatti spec sheet.
It’s the kind of thing that makes you stop and check the numbers twice.
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The numbers are supercar territory
The top figure is for the tri-motor version, which is reportedly good for up to 1,194 horsepower. That number puts the Z9S in company usually reserved for seven-figure hypercars, not four-door sedans built for the school run.
The Flagship trim backs up that power with a claimed 780km CLTC range, so buyers aren’t trading straight-line speed for everyday utility, they get both in the same car.
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Further up the lineup, single-motor versions offer a range of up to 920 km, with outputs of 320kW and 370kW via rear-wheel drive setups.
Even before the tri-motor flagship comes into the limelight, the entry version sits well above most luxury sedans.
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Still built like a luxury sedan
Despite the numbers, the Z9S isn’t styled like a stand-out performance special. Denza has made it shorter than the existing Z9 with a more performance-focused stance, standing at 5090mm long on a 3025mm wheelbase.
Visually, it borrows the fastback profile Z9 GTCloser in silhouette to a modern grand tourer than a traditional limousine.
Denza calls it a technology luxury intelligent sedan, corporate language for a car that’s built to compete on the spec sheet and on the showroom floor at the same time.
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Australia may be closely monitored
Denza has already confirmed the Z9 GT for Australian showrooms, and the brand says each model is considered for local release, so the Z9S isn’t ruled out.
If it gets here, it lands in a market where BYD has already shown that buyers will forego the usual badges as the numbers go up.
A four-door sedan should be comfortable and practical. The Z9S decided it could also be seriously fast.
