BYD's Toyota Prado rival likely this year: Tough off-road focused Denza plug-in hybrids on the cards for Australia with the 2025 Denza B5 to tackle the Ford Everest and the potent luxury focused YangWang brand is under consideration, too

BYD is about to go upmarket in Australia.

The Chinese brand's Australian communications boss, James Robinson, shared some details of Denza’s factory-backed roll-out in Australia at the recent Shanghai motor show.

Robinson said at least one Denza branded vehicle would make it to Australia imminently: “Still this year, yes, no timing confirmed in terms of a month or anything, but it will be this year. I can’t confirm models yet, at least one product will arrive before the end of 2025.” he said.

Robinson said the brand's rollout wouldn't mimic its recent European launch.

Denza recently debuted in Europe with the Denza Z9 GT, a high-performance genre-bending five-door hatch. It offers tri-motor all-wheel drive performance, with around 710kW of peak power, allowing a 0-100km/h sprint time of just 3.4 seconds.

In Australia Denza should take on a more off-road focus, initially.

It has trademarked the Denza B5 in Australia, which is understood to be a badge-swapped version of the FangChengBao 5 (Leopard 5) off-road SUV. It uses many of the same components as the Shark 6 ute sold by BYD.

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A camouflaged version of the Bao 5 has even been spotted testing in Australia. It is pitched against heavyweights such as the Toyota Prado and Ford Everest.

Robinson said Australia is definitely ready for a more premium Chinese brand, such as Denza.

"I think now is as good a time as any, and when customers get to experience the technology and luxury through the Denza brand, they’ll be okay with the prices.”

“I think it would be a niche product in Australia, but I think there’s an appetite for that sort of product which has been demonstrated well in our market,” he said.

Robinson left the door open to the brand importing BYD's ultra-luxury YangWang brand Down Under.

"We’ve got interest in all of the products which BYD sell under all the sub-brands,” he said. 

"Personally, I’d love to see this brand [YangWang] and these models in the future, but even if it was going to happen it would be ages away, and nobody from HQ has communicated with us [on these products]”

“I’d say everything is under consideration. The brand is very exciting, it would be silly not to consider everything in the range, but ‘consideration’ and actually getting it homologated is a complicated process.”

Of the three vehicles in YangWang’s current range the enormous G-Wagen or Range Rover rivalling U8 is the most likely for Australia. It is a quad-motor plug-in hybrid, which can produce peak power figures of 880kW/1280Nm. The 3.5 tonne SUV can propel itself from 0-100km/h in just 3.6 seconds, according to the brand.

Robinson said BYD branded products wouldn't be factory-backed anytime soon.

“BYD is only under the importer [EV Direct] for now, so we’re focused on Denza for the end of this year."

Other products recently launched by Denza include the plush N9 large SUV, while FangChengBao has expanded its range with a smaller and more road-focused mid-size Bao 3 to add to the larger Bao 5 and Bao 8 off-roaders.

Expect to learn more about Denza’s local roll-out plans imminently.