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Four dealers will kick off BYD's new prestige marque in Australia, which has commenced orders for two hybrid four-wheel-drives targeting European brands.
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Denza – the new prestige division of growing Chinese car maker BYD – will launch with four showrooms in select Australian capital cities before expanding nationwide.
The first Denza showroom is about to open in Sydney's Rushcutters Bay, across the road from BMW, and down the road from Mercedes-Benz and Volvo – three brands the BYD division is hoping to steal sales from.
Dealerships in Melbourne's Kew, Perth's Osbourne Park, and Brisbane's Fortitude Valley – the latter a former BYD showroom, before it moved to a larger location – are due to follow in the coming days.
The openings are timed to match the commencement of orders for Denza's two launch vehicles, a pair of four-wheel-drive plug-in hybrids: the five-seat B5 from $74,990 plus on-road costs, and the six- or seven-seat B8 from $91,000.
Prices will be negotiable – as dealers will be traditional franchise operations, not fixed-price akin to Mercedes-Benz – but customers will be able to order vehicles online.
Deliveries are due to commence in late January 2026 for the B5, and late February for the B8, after which more showrooms are due to open, Denza chief operating officer Mark Harland told Australian media.
"Obviously we have plans to get into all states, so at some point we'll be in Adelaide, [the] ACT, [and] expand out into other markets, like the Gold Coast, further north," he said.
"I'm not looking at hundreds of dealers ... By the end of the first quarter, I'd like to have close to 15, and maybe by the end of the year, 20 [to] 25.
"The important part for me on the dealer network is really providing this special kind of premium experience, with the House of Denza, and these bespoke showrooms really highlight the individual vehicles."
House of Denza refers to a physical space within the brand's dealerships available for their use, as well as a range of customer events, which Harland said could include "off-road adventures" for Queensland owners, and "tour[ing] the vineyards" for those in Adelaide.
"One of the other things we're gonna be offering is for people to go, literally, to the factories," said Harland.
"To go to the factory, to go to Zhengzhou [the factory location] and use the test track facilities, and stuff like that. Those are all things that we're looking at as the value add, being part of House of Denza."
The initial Denza showroom in Sydney will be owned by a company led by Luke Todd, the boss of BYD's former importer EVDirect, which was replaced by a factory-backed operation earlier this year.
After losing the BYD distributorship, Todd's EVDirect company formed a joint venture with Australian dealership giant Eagers to continue operating a number of BYD showrooms around the country that had been under their control.
"It is just giving Luke [Todd] the priority to propose stores to us in both New South Wales and the ACT. So over a period of time, we've asked Luke if he's got any stores that he wants to bring to us," said Harland.
"It's still a traditional franchise model, if you will. So Luke's opening the stores, but then I would have a dealer agreement with Luke in Canberra, I'd have a dealer agreement with Luke in Sydney."
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Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
