BYD's flagship promised the moon — then it wobbled at 124 mph
denza.com
BYD's premium brand wants to fight Porsche and BMW, but a German autobahn run exposed a hard truth about the 1,000-hp grand tourer.
BYD is using its premium brand Denza to play on the turf of Porsche, BMW and Mercedes. The Denza Z9 GT looks every bit the expensive electric grand tourer — nearly 1,000 hp, a massive body, a lavish cabin, and a heavy bet on high tech. But a run on the German autobahn proved that spec-sheet numbers alone don’t make a premium car.
Automotive News took the Z9 GT out of Hamburg and described an unsettling moment. As the car climbed to 124 mph — roughly 200 km/h — it started to feel nervous. The author notes a clear “floaty” quality and a slight wobble: the driver doesn’t get the confidence you expect from a pricey grand tourer. For a car being compared to Porsche, that kind of verdict is a serious hit to its image.
Let’s not blow it out of proportion: this isn’t an official defect or a recall. It’s an impression from a high-speed test, in a mode hardly any owner will use every day. But for a car that wants to play in the German premium league, autobahn stability is the exam. Porsche, BMW and Mercedes spent decades fine-tuning chassis, aerodynamics, suspension and steering precisely for these speeds.
The Denza Z9 GT can impress with power, equipment and interior, yet this test exposes the weak spot of the new wave of Chinese EVs. Brutal acceleration is no longer hard — electric motors deliver huge torque easily. The hard part is something else: making a heavy car feel stable, predictable and calm at high speed.
