Denza D9 Spotted In India Ahead Of Brand’s Launch Later This Month
The D9 will be one of the first cars from Denza in India.
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Every time India gets a new automaker, there’s a lot of noise around it. Sometimes it’s by the brand itself, but also through spy shots, test mules, and secretive footage leaks of the upcoming vehicles. Denza, the upcoming luxury division of BYD, has fallen prey to the latter.
Ahead of the brand’s introduction in India later this week, certain spy shots of its D9 electric MPV have surfaced online. This time, the MPV was spied being unloaded from a trailer, completely undisguised.
Who Is Denza?
Denza, as we mentioned earlier, is BYD’s luxury division, much like how Lexus is to Toyota, where technology and platforms are shared, but the approach is different.
While BYD has been in India since 2007, it began its passenger-vehicle business in India in 2021. Five years after trying to make its mark with the Atto 3, Seal, Sealion 7 and eMAX 7, BYD is now bringing the fight to luxury car brands like Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Volvo.
Denza D9 Highlights
The D9 is a luxurious MPV that will take on the likes of the MG M9 and Toyota Vellfire. The D9 comes with multiple powertrain options globally, but we still aren’t sure which one we’ll be getting. It is expected to come as a completely built unit (CBU) import and share the styling with the global model.
In terms of design, the D9 sports a massive faux grille upfront with huge silver surrounds, giving it dominating road presence. It gets a small grille at the bottom of the bumper for cooling the batteries and the electric motor. In profile, it’s quintessentially an MPV with small wheels and a tall design to maximise cabin space. It rides on 18-inch alloy wheels and features a sliding rear door and a sharkfin antenna.
What the spy shots show is the rear of the D9, which comes with thick, multi-layered LED taillamps with a slim connecting light bar. There’s a wide stop lamp above the rear windscreen and a thick chrome insert over the number plate housing (mimicking a moustache).
While the D9 seen unloading didn’t sport EV AWD (all-wheel-drive) badges on the tailgate, it’s yet to be confirmed whether Denza will be offering the D9 solely in a front-wheel-drive (FWD) layout.
Here are the battery specifications of it:
| Battery |
103.6 kWh |
| Power |
313 PS (FWD) / 374 PS (AWD) |
| Torque |
360 Nm (FWD)/ 470 Nm (AWD) |
| Range |
580 Km (FWD) / 600 Km (AWD) |
*FWD- Front-wheel Drive, AWD- All-wheel Drive
CarDekho Says…
The Denza D9 will be an interesting option in the luxury MPV space in India. At the moment, the only truly all-electric MPV in India is the MG M9, but add BYD’s Blade Battery tech into the mix, and the Denza D9 has a decent advantage in reliability and battery management.
BYD’s EVs feel the most conventional car-like, rather than appliances; the Denza D9 should then also feel closer to the Vellfire. It will be interesting to see if Denza helps BYD get the foothold in India that it couldn’t.
What do you think about this luxury van? Do let us know in the comments!
