BYD brings its luxury onto the market Denza brand here, and is expected to lure buyers away from established premium brands.
The Chinese brand doesn’t hope to sell quite as many vehicles as luxury market leaders BMW and Mercedes-Benz, but it has set its sights on cracking the top five premium brands.
“If you look at Mercedes-Benz or BMW, that would be a bit excessive in the first year,” Denza Australia chief operating officer Mark Harland said Daily Sparkz.
“But if we look at other premium brands that would be in the top five, you would say: Range Rover, Lexus, Audi – those would all be top five premium brands. That’s my benchmark.”
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Through the end of November, BMW led luxury car sales in Australia this year with 24,394 deliveries. Mercedes-Benz has delivered 21,050 vehicles (excluding the Vans division), while Audi is at 14,265, Lexus is at 13,360 and Land Rover (including Range Rover vehicles) is at 7,803.
Last year BMW was Australia’s best-selling luxury brand with 26,341 sales.
Denza will become BYD’s global premium brand, selling not only vehicles in the Denza range available in the Chinese market, but also Fangchengbao and possibly the Yangwang luxury brand. The first two vehicles with Denza badges, the large off-road SUVs B5 and B8, are Fangchengbaos.
It is only the second Chinese car brand to launch in Australia after Geely’s Zeekr brand and is positioned as a clear premium brand, but the company does not see its country of origin as a barrier.
“I actually think what we did with BYD kind of assuaged some of those concerns,” Mr. Harland said.
“In fact, I think more and more people in the Australian car buying world are realizing that the best technology in the world comes from China. So I think there’s a lot more acceptance of Chinese brands because that’s where the technology is.”
“That’s where a lot of the manufacturing happens for high-end brands. So I think there will still be some concerns, but I think once people get behind the wheel that will largely go away.”
While Denza vehicles are priced and positioned well above the BYD brand, the B5 and B8 off-road SUVs are under $100,000 before on-road costs – and the company says it has found its niche.
“Because of our very aggressive pricing, I actually see us competing at both ends of the market, i.e.
“My main task in the early days, apart from building the dealer network and looking after customers, was actually organizing test drives. I want to get people – and yes, it could be a Prado driver, it could be a Range Rover driver. I want to get as many people as possible to drive our car to see the difference.”
The B5 is about the size of a Toyota Prado or Lexus GX, but is priced closer to the former; likewise the B8 against the Toyota LandCruiser/Lexus LX duo.
Denza’s showrooms will be separate from BYD’s, except in less populated regions such as Tasmania, and the brand is aiming for a different experience that is “better suited to a premium customer” with elements such as concierge services.
It plans to have 20 to 25 dealers covering “all key markets” by the end of next year while being able to leverage BYD’s existing parts support.
Currently the B5 and B8 are the only Denza models registered for Australia, but the company is also eyeing luxury sedans, station wagons and MPVs and even a sports car.
