Denza B8 2026 review: International first drive

There aren’t too many upper-large luxury SUVs that can actually go off-road in Australia.

There’s a few models under the Land Rover umbrella, like the Defender or the Range Rover, while Lexus has its take on the Toyota LandCruiser, the Lexus LX. There’s the smaller GX as well, and high-grade versions of the LandCruiser and Prado. 

You could count the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, but it’s only offered in AMG or all-electric guise. 

That leaves Denza. What is Denza? I am glad you asked.

Denza is BYD’s premium brand that is confirmed to launch in Australia by the end of 2025. It’s much like Genesis is to Hyundai. It will initially offer high-end SUVs and people movers.

One such SUV is the Fangchengbao Leopard 8. Fangchengbao is BYD’s Chinese-market off-road brand but for international markets like Australia, it will fall under the Denza brand and adopt the B8 name.

BYD Australia is yet to officially lock in the big 4WD for a local launch, but it is under serious consideration and it is highly likely to join the line-up following the launch of the smaller Denza B5, which lands by the end of the year.

That means things like local specification and pricing are unknown at this stage. However, given Denza’s ‘Lexus’ positioning in China, a car like this could easily wear a six-figure price tag in Australia. We will wait and see what BYD lands on for this model.

One thing it won’t have if it comes to Australia is the super cool Fangchengbao badge. It looks a lot like the Batman logo! But it will likely adopt the slightly less cool Denza badge. 

The Denza B8 is big. Massive in fact. It has bigger dimensions than a Lexus LX. It measures 5.2 metres long, close to two metres wide, just over two metres tall and the wheelbase is just under three metres. Oh, and the kerb weight is a tick over 3.3 tonnes. 

It is imposing in the metal, too. It lacks the squared-off, aggressive look of its Denza B5 (Fangchengbao Leopard 5) stablemate and instead adopts a softer, more rounded look, at the front at least. 

It’s a nice-looking car and lacks the unusual panel creases of the B5, instead going for a more slab-sided look. It has a blocky rear end, however, and a huge spare wheel housing on the side-opening tailgate.

Inside it adopts some of the design elements of the B5, like the horizontal dash, the grab handles bookending the dash and the trio of screens – multimedia, driver and passenger display. 

But the B8 takes Denza luxury to a whole new level compared with the B5. There’s more space across the front with a wider centre console that houses similar bejewelled controls to the B5, as well as the leather gear shifter that rises up when the ignition is started.

The materials are a step up too, with a gorgeous multi-tone look with cream, brown, dark grey, chrome, piano black and more. Everything from the beautifully designed steering wheel to the door cards ensures the B8 looks and feels special. There’s a level of quality, refinement and luxury that was not expected. 

I have talked up the interior design and quality of a lot of BYD products I drove on this trip, but the B8 - and perhaps the wild Yangwang U8 - top the class. 

There is ample headroom in the second row but not as much legroom as you’d expect. That may be because it has a third row. I didn’t sample the third row at this event given the time constraints. In China the B8 is offered in six or seven-seat guise. The boot appears sizeable as well.

There’s no shortage of luxury and tech goodies with the B8 coming with a 12.3-inch driver instrument panel, a 17.3-inch central multimedia system, a 12.3-inch passenger touchscreen, a 50-inch augmented reality head-up display, an 18-speaker Devialet sound system, a cooled storage compartment, ambient lighting, a fragrance system, wireless charging and a truck load of safety gear.

The Denza B8 is built on BYD’s DMO (Dual-mode - Off-road) Super Hybrid platform and is a body-on-frame chassis, which points to real off-road ability.

It has double wishbone independent suspension with ‘DiSus-P’ air suspension. Ground clearance is 220mm in normal mode and increases to 310mm. The B8 has a wading depth of up to 890mm, approach and departure angles of 34 and 35 degrees respectively, and it features low-speed 4WD mode, three automatic diff locks and a long list of off-road modes.

The plug-in hybrid powertrain combines a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with two magnet synchronous motors on the front and rear axle, paired with an electronic continuously variable transmission (eCVT), all for combined power and torque figures of 550kW and 760Nm. The B8 can hit 100km/h from standstill in 4.8 seconds. 

The powertrain has a 36.8 kWh ‘Blade’ lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery offering 100km of electric driving range on the realistic WLTP protocol, and up to 1200km combined petrol-electric range according to China’s lenient CLTC program. 

It was a challenge to gauge the B8’s off-road credentials on the ATV track acting as an off-road course. It handled the few demanding sections with ease. However, its sheer size will make this a challenging off-roader to wrangle on narrow tracks. 

On the tarmac, the B8 proved its 0-100km/h time with brisk acceleration in a straight line, so much so the nose lifts considerably on take off. 

Where it’s let down is the tight and twisty stuff. The little dynamic course was not the optimal track to highlight the B8’s serene, comfortable ride and cruising ability. Instead it was hard to manage in tight bends and wasn’t particularly fun to drive.

That’s why we will wait for a more extensive drive on a variety of surfaces in Australia before handing down a final judgement.