Author: French Fry Fish

This year will undoubtedly be an eventful year for the new energy vehicle industry. Not only are there new entrants in the new energy vehicle market, but there are also new production technologies and new battlegrounds in the new energy vehicle subfields.

Perhaps because of reading too much “fighting” discourse online, everyone has become more or less critical. Even I myself couldn’t help but think of the word “old” after seeing so many “new” words. Are there no “old” products among them?

Well, today we’re going to discuss an automotive brand that is both “old” and “new” —— DENZA.

DENZA Automobile was founded in 2010 by a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and BYD, making it China’s first joint venture dedicated to new energy vehicles. It is actually a few years older than the current top three new energy vehicle startups in China. However, DENZA also became “new” last December when a series of significant adjustments transferred control of the company to BYD, thereby starting a new stage for the brand.

On May 16th, DENZA officially launched the D9, the first car of the new era.

DENZA: Focusing Only on New Energy Luxury Cars

“In the new developmental stage, DENZA will remain unwavering in its luxury car focus, adhering to the strategic positioning of only providing new energy luxury cars.“

At the beginning of the press conference, BYD Chairman and President Wang Chuanfu set the tone for DENZA’s brand positioning and strategy — only producing new energy luxury vehicles.

Therefore, it’s only natural that the first car released after DENZA’s transformation is also its first MPV model, the D9 high-end luxury MPV, a product whose luxurious positioning was confirmed by BYD.

My first reaction to “high-end” and “luxury” is that this car is definitely not cheap.

The DENZA D9 is available in two power types: DM-i Super Hybrid and pure electric, with six configurations and prices ranging from 335,000 yuan to 460,000 yuan. There is also a special edition with a limited run of 99 four-seater founding editions, priced at 660,000 yuan.

“The Lynk & Co brand will take over the BYD Dynasty and Ocean series, and connect to the unpublished high-end brand. With a starting price of 335,000 yuan, the Lynk & Co D9 has smoothly taken over the baton of the BYD Han EV Qianshan Cui limited edition, which is priced at 329,800 yuan, and continues to steadily rise, bringing the price to a new range.”

So can the Lynk & Co D9 carry this price tag?

A New Choice for Luxury Electric MPV

Let’s take a look at Lynk & Co D9 itself.

Thanks to the early warm-up by Zhao Changjiang, General Manager of Lynk & Co Sales Division, and the official spoiler, I already had a general outline of the Lynk & Co D9 in my mind before the launch event, which helped me fill in some details.

For example, the dual-power configuration. DM-i model has a maximum NEDC pure electric range of 190km, a fuel consumption of 6.2L/100km, and a maximum comprehensive range of 1040km; while the pure electric version CLTC has a pure electric range of 600+km.

Another example is the front-end styling. After viewing the official appearance of Lynk & Co D9, many friends on Weibo joked and called it “Teng Er Fa”. Zhao Changjiang told us that Lynk & Co has its own thinking about the front-end design, and Lynk & Co names this design “π-MOTION”.

The silver line that runs across the entire front of the car above the headlights is the horizontal line above the π letter. The two silver curves that extend from the bottom of the headlights to the front lip of the car are the two strokes below the π letter.

If Lynk & Co D9’s exterior design has taken a new style different from the BYD Dynasty and Ocean series, when we turn our attention to the interior of the front row, we can still find many old tastes here.From the floating car infotainment screen to the styling and button layout of the gear lever on the center console, it feels familiar at first sight for those who are familiar with BYD.

Fortunately, this familiarity is broken with some fresh new features as the view shifts to the rear seats.

Looking towards the front seats from the middle aisle of the second row, wow, there are so many screens.

There are headrest screens for rear seat entertainment behind each first-row seat, armrest screens for the two second-row seats, as well as the driver’s LCD instrument panel, central control car screen, and the HUD that will appear on the top-of-the-line model, a total of seven screens.

Behind the seven-screen interconnection is the “DENZA Link” car system.

Seeing the name Link, it’s easy to think of BYD’s DiLink system. This is understandable since they are the same family, but DENZA has customized the UI interface.

The selling point of DENZA Link is 5G interconnection, Android 12 system, and 100% compatibility with the Android mobile phone ecosystem, which ensures the richness of DENZA Link’s car applications.

But this also brings up a new problem, how to adapt Android applications to fit the car screen and make applications perform well on the car infotainment screen, which is still a pain point that many Android foldable screen phones have not been able to solve well.

As for the car infotainment chips that have recently become popular, DENZA D9 has not clearly expressed the signal of the chipset, only implying that it can achieve a “500,000 score”. My guess is that it’s probably not the hottest Qualcomm 8155 chipset currently. DENZA is welcome to prove me wrong.

Speaking of which, I must mention that DENZA D9 uses UWB digital key technology. UWB refers to ultra-wideband communications. In short, with UWB, the vehicle can more accurately perceive the distance and position of the key, enabling a better keyless entry experience and higher security.

I have heard insiders from a certain car company talk about UWB digital key technology. Everyone knows that the experience of UWB is much better than that of Bluetooth keys and NFC keys, but no one has dared to adopt it on a large scale because it is really expensive.And the high-end positioning of DENZA D9 seems to alleviate some cost anxiety, at least I can feel this alleviation from its choice of UWB digital key, which is also the right direction for the brand to move up.

Looking further back, DENZA D9 adopts a 2+2+3 seven-seater layout. With a car body size of 5250 × 1960 × 1920mm, a wheelbase of 3110mm, and the structural advantages of the new energy exclusive platform, every sentence does not directly mention the interior space advantage of DENZA D9, yet every sentence clearly states the spaciousness within.

As for the intelligent driving section, which is the strength of electric new energy, it has become the least interesting part of DENZA D9. The top configuration is equipped with DENZA Pilot, which has 24 environment perception sensors and can achieve L2 level intelligent auxiliary driving. As for more advanced intelligent driving configurations, such as lidar, high-speed navigation, and city navigation, this wave of luxury new energy MPVs seems to have maintained an astonishing consensus and chosen to ignore them.

We bought this one, which one is more suitable for you?

As a new energy car media that boasts “buy cars for real”, our company paid the deposit for DENZA D9 at the first time when the pre-sale starts, as usual.

We chose the DM-i 970 four-wheel drive flagship version.

Why did we choose this version? We have very clear reasons.

Firstly, as a car media, we must hope to experience the most complete function configuration of a vehicle, so as to inform our readers of the upper limit of this vehicle, therefore, choosing the top configuration is inevitable.

Secondly, the MPV in our hearts must be a model that needs to undertake the responsibility of “let’s go whenever we say”. Before achieving a qualitative breakthrough in battery capacity or charging technology, a hybrid version that can experience pure electric power and eliminate range anxiety is our best choice.

In addition, as Mr. Chang has mentioned more than once, with the expansion of the company’s scale, several cars are needed for each group trip. From this perspective, although the 4-seater version of the DENZA D9 is more topical, the 7-seater version is our actual requirement.

Therefore, the DENZA D9 DM-i 970 four-wheel drive flagship version is our answer. However, in addition to the choice of power form, our car selection needs may differ to some extent from those of ordinary families. The DM-i 970 four-wheel drive flagship version is our best solution, but it may not be the best choice for other car buyers.

Let’s take a closer look at this configuration table.

The DM-i 945 luxury version priced at 335,000 yuan, which is the basic configuration model, may not be the most cost-effective choice. Compared with the next level, the DM-i 1040 luxury version, the battery of this basic version is smaller, with only 50km of NEDC pure electric endurance. Based on our experience, a larger battery is a better choice from the perspective of both short-distance pure electric commuting convenience and engine intervention frequency.

In addition, for the extra 40,000 yuan spent on the luxury version compared to the basic version, in addition to a larger battery, you can also get more practical comfort configurations including the driver’s electric waist support adjustment, ventilation and heating of the front and rear seats, electric adjustment and massage of the middle row seats, air purification device and more, all of which are worth the extra cost.

Therefore, for ordinary family users, I personally recommend the second-lowest configuration DM-i 1040 luxury version, which is a better value for money.

On another note, when it comes to buying luxury electric MPVs, the recently launched Voyah Dream Family can’t be ignored. Which one is better between the two, we won’t make judgments rashly. Let’s just look at the price and configuration. The starting price of Voyah Dream Family is about three yuan more expensive than that of DENZA D9, but it also has standard configurations such as air suspension and dual motors. Which one to choose? Firstly, ask yourself whether air suspension is a must-have feature for you. Secondly, after the display cars arrive, experience the advantages of both models at offline stores, and the answer will naturally emerge.Back to DENZA D9. Of course, if you are a successful person like our General Manager An, who is “heavy-pocketed”, don’t hesitate to choose the fully equipped version or the higher-level four-seater Founding Edition. He has been grumbling all night because he failed to buy the Founding Edition due to the objective needs of the company.

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This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.