Denza reveals local pricing for luxury super hybrid SUVs

Damien O’Carroll

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  • Denza has revealed New Zealand prices for its first two offerings here.
  • The large B5 and even larger B8 SUVs sit on the same platform as the BYD Shark 6 ute.
  •  Both are packed with technology and luxury features, while also being capable off-roaders.

Denza has revealed local pricing for the first two models it will launch in New Zealand - with more to come - the Denza B5 and Denza B8 super hybrids.

The B5 will be available in Standard and Leopard (the Chinese market name for Denza) variants, while the flagship B8 offers spacious 7-seat (7S) and 6-seat (6S) configurations for families and "executive travel".

The Denza B5 is the smaller of the two (it's still quite big though) and starts at $88,990.

Both models use parent company BYD’s DM-O (Dual Mode Offroad) super-hybrid platform - the same one that sits under our recently-announced DRIVEN Car Guide Car of the Year, the BYD Shark 6 ute - however they are both more powerful than the Shark.

The B5 uses the same 135kW 1.5-litre petrol engine as the Shark and a 31.8kWh battery, but gets more powerful electric motors to bump power outputs up to a combined total of 400kW and 760Nm. By contrast, the Shark packs 321kW/650Nm.

The larger B8 packs more power, more luxury and starts at $109,990.

The B8 gets even more grunt with a 200kW 2.0-litre petrol engine and a combined power output of 425kW, but with the same 760Nm torque figure. As you would expect, both are rather fast thanks to those hefty power figures, with both rocketing to 100km/h in just 4.8 seconds.

In our original drive of the B5 and B8 in China earlier this year we questioned whether the pricing of two such highly-specced vehicles would be Range Rover Defender money or Ford Territory money, and now we know that it is very much closer to the Ford end of the spectrum, with the New Zealand pricing for the B5 starting at $88,990 for the standard model and $96,990 for the top-spec B5 Leopard model.

The larger B8 7S seven-seater will land at $109,990, while the luxo-spec B8 6S six-seater (that replaces the 7S's second row of seats with two large and luxurious captain's chairs) will top the Denza range at $117,990.

Denza's New Zealand website is live now for expressions of interest.

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