On September 16, it was reported that BYD had taken full ownership of the Denza brand in the past few days. This means that Denza has changed from a joint venture to an independent car company.
Shenzhen Denza New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd, as it is formally known, was established in 2011 as a partnership between BYD and Mercedes Benz. Each company held 50% of the shares, and the registered capital was 7.76 billion yuan (about 1 billion USD).
A concept car was shown at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show, which resulted in a production car initially known as the Denza in 2014. It was a strange amalgamation of a Mercedes B-class platform and the BYD e6 powertrain. Subsequent versions were known as the Denza 400 and Denza 500, with each having various improvements, most notably range.
The car was never particularly successful and in 2019 was discontinued and a new Denza the Denza X based on the BYD Tang was unveiled. Unlike the original Denza, which was only an all-electric car, the Denza X was available in both all-electric and PHEV forms. Whereas with the original Denza, where it appeared that Mercedes Benz wanted as little to do as possible with the car, the Denza X had badges announcing that it was styled by Mercedes Benz and it was sold in Mercedes Benz showrooms.
Despite more commitment from the German partner, the Denza X was still not very successful. In December 2021, BYD increased its ownership to 90%, leaving Mercedes Benz with just the remaining 10%. From that point, Mercedes Benz was only a shareholder and no longer participated in the development of new cars.
As part of the restructuring, the Denza X was dropped, and the first new model to appear was the Denza D9 MPV in both PHEV and all-electric forms, debuting in 2022. Much to everyone’s surprise, an MPV managed to do what the previous sedan and SUV had not been able to do – gain sales. The momentum continued in 2023 with the introduction of the N7 crossover and, later, the N8 SUV. It should be noted that the N8 was also based on the BYD Tang and, in many ways, was just a facelifted version of the previously failed Denza X.
Earlier this year, the brand delivered its 200,000th vehicle, following strong growth since 2022. The brand is on the verge of starting deliveries of its new Z9 GT wagon, which will be followed later this year by the Z9 sedan and the N9 SUV. Plans call for the brand to have a 10-model range, and the brand is slowly going overseas. Deliveries are set to begin in Hong Kong later this month, and sales in Europe should also begin soon.
At the recent Denza Z9 GT pre-sales conference, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu described the brand as the first new force in China and said, “The child of BYD and Mercedes-Benz, it can be said that Denza is a product and brand born on the shoulders of giants.” Time, however, has shown that the less Mercedes Benz has had to do with the brand, the more successful it has become. Perhaps now, with BYD having sole ownership, the sky really is the limit.
Source: Fast Technology
“Time, however, has shown that the less Mercedes Benz has had to do with the brand, the more successful it has become. ”
Good observation since much like the newer BYD-Toyota tie-up, the BYD-Daimler tie-up seemed to take forever to get off the ground.
Word had it that the German engineers who signed on the project early (2011) were becoming bored stiff, and had trouble finding any good watering holes down in Shenzhen.