Text | Joey

Looking back to the day of test driving, besides driving, I have almost no memories of sitting on the DENZA D9.

The reason is quite sorry, I fell asleep while driving.

But this is not a very bad reason. After all, being able to keep in a drowsy state all the time shows that the comfort of this car has reached a very good state.

And such a state must be praised for an MPV. According to DENZA’s positioning, the D9 belongs to a “high-end” MPV model.

Simply put, it has higher configuration and better price.

Of course, you can also consider it as a simple marketing slogan. But a simple fact is that such a slogan, and the quality matching it, must be welcomed by car buyers.

In the past, it seemed like a situation that was not easy to achieve, but in today’s era, many car manufacturers have begun to enter the MPV era, and the threshold seems to be getting higher and higher, but the number of people who can reach it is also increasing. And such an increase means that the right to speak about MPV luxury has actually been mastered by more brands.

The right to speak about luxury

At the first sight of the DENZA D9, you will unconsciously associate its design with the Alphard.

Yes, you will see that from the grille in the front of the car, to the two X-shaped chrome strips seemingly separated outside the grille, from the sharp design of the headlights, to the curve of the A-pillar, from the overall sturdy and upward-looking body side shape, to the protruding spoiler at the rear of the car, it looks somewhat familiar.The difference is that the area of the grille is larger, and the area of chrome plating is also larger; all parts of the body that can be chrome plated have thicker chrome plating, and the application of more trendy through-type taillights is closer to the current mainstream trend in car design, thus creating a visual experience that is larger and more powerful.

First of all, the similarity in design language is not a bad thing. After all, no matter how the times change, selling good-looking cars in the Chinese market is always the key. However, the more important thing is that good-looking appearance is only the easiest part to achieve, and if one wants to go further, they must put in more effort internally.

Therefore, in the second row of D9, two large HD screens are placed on the back of the headrests of the first row seats. Simply put, the entertainment aspect has been fully realized. Meanwhile, with the matching of zero-gravity seats that can almost be laid flat, aviation headrests, and seat massages, D9 instantly becomes an audio-visual lounge. In this audio-visual lounge, you can always open the small refrigerator and snack cabinet located behind the central armrest, and have a comfortable trip.

If the future of automobiles is defined almost entirely by scene-based design, then the entirety of the second row of D9, which is the most important area for commercial and household use, has been designed and manufactured according to the idea of creating a comfortable resting scene.

There are also many small details that support better application of the scene, such as a panoramic sunroof measuring 1.1 square meters that can provide a better night view experience when lying flat without looking at the screens.

And if you want to control the screen but don’t want to struggle to get up from the flat seat and don’t have the ideal gesture control, the installation of two small LCD tablets on both sides of the armrest, which can serve as remote control, allows you to easily control the screen and adjust the massage mode functions. In addition, there are two plug-in wireless charging areas placed on the side of the seat, which can quickly charge your phone in real-time.

What’s more, a body length of over 5.2 meters and a wheelbase of over 3.1 meters will bring better third-row seating space and the ability to stack 7 boarding suitcases in the trunk even without folding down the seats; this is also a manifestation of the luxurious space.

For a luxury MPV, luxury design is the first factor to be conveyed. It is an information element that can be quickly perceived visually. More importantly, the second-row space, as the core area of the vehicle, requires more sophisticated polishing and design.

It can be seen that the DENZA D9 has fully integrated almost all leisure, entertainment, comfort, and luxury experiences. With this way of thinking, striving for the discourse power of luxury is obviously very competitive.

About the Discourse Power of Technology

If luxury is what Chinese car brands need to catch up with, then in terms of technology, especially in the technology of new energy intelligent vehicles, all brands currently want to break through and achieve leadership. And since it is new energy intelligent technology, electricity and computers are the two core breakthrough points.First of all, it should be noted that MPV is not a car type that focuses on driving performance. Therefore, performance is not the top priority, and in the field of new energy vehicles, endurance is the hardest indicator to measure usage performance.

DENZA has launched two versions of the D9. Firstly, the pure electric EV version, which is based on the BYD e-platform 3.0, uses an eight-in-one electric powertrain, a -30°C-60°C wide-temperature efficient heat pump, and blade batteries. This power version can achieve a range of more than 600 km CLTC, which should be considered as one of the more mainstream endurance data currently. However, considering the differences between actual use and calibration data, as well as numerous electronic devices, its endurance data may still be biased.

Therefore, DENZA has also directly transplanted the more popular DM-i hybrid version of BYD to the D9. With the hybrid mode, the D9 can achieve a maximum of 190 km of pure electric endurance, and the maximum comprehensive endurance can exceed 1040 km. Simply put, in the transition period of pure electric transformation, such a mode can obviously become a selling point for DENZA.

However, the biggest selling point may still depend on human-computer interaction. As far as the intelligent interactive screen experience is concerned, the D9 has already had a very good operating feeling. This feeling comes from several aspects. Firstly, the clarity of the high-definition screen, and secondly, the smooth and frameless experience from the actual operation. But more importantly, it is the system.From the perspective of color saturation on the screen, the central control screen of the DENZA D9 with the ability to change wallpapers appears to be relatively clearer and more colorful than others, which prefer the high-end cool black and white color scheme. The AITO AITO M5 is the closest product in similarity. Moreover, it’s not only the screen, but also the operating system that has similarities.

For example, although the Android system is used as the underlying architecture of the screen, the UI design of the desktop and the flexible placement of the widgets seem to be very similar to Huawei’s Hongmeng car system. The placement of downloaded widgets and apps can also be customized, making the system more user-friendly.

The DENZA D9, which uses the mid-range 7325 chip, has a smoother experience with its car system, which is not visibly inferior to products that use the 8155 chip. This largely depends on the optimized customization of the system. Of course, after future OTA upgrades, its performance should be further improved. But, so far, it remains to be observed if it could hinder the D9’s performance.

Undoubtedly, the trend of intelligence lies in the communication and interaction between people and cars. However, this interaction channel isn’t limited to the screen. For example, the first two rows of seats can achieve voice input of four audio zones in total, with 20 seconds of continuous input, making it possible to have daily conversation-like interactions.

Additionally, several screens inside the car can be interconnected. For example, a passenger in the back row can choose their preferred navigation route and send it to the driver in the front row, achieving a more customized navigation route and sharing other functions.

Obviously, the screen design is suitable for the positioning of D9 as a comprehensive merchant. After all, the comfort of the second row is sufficient, and for family driving users, the convenience and technology of the first row should also be taken into account. And this technology attribute that takes care of both rows is actually the most obvious manifestation of D9’s desire to seize the discourse power of MPV technology.

Not long ago, our company conducted a blind test on MPV. Without seeing the target, participants could hardly distinguish the difference and how big the difference was between the product being tested and the benchmark Alfa.

This is a very clear declaration, indicating that leaving aside brand premium, someone has been able to match this product in terms of product concept and actual product quality, and surpass it in technology.

Obviously, DENZA D9 also aims for this goal.

Of course, in today’s state of the overall pattern being broken, brands and products that want to seize the discourse power are definitely more than just DENZA D9. But in my opinion, this is a good thing, because competition leads to progress. Only through competition can more people buy better products with less money. This is what is more meaningful than competing.

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.