'Better' Denza B5 takes aim at Toyota Prado

BYD's premium offshoot Denza has big plans to smash the competition in Australia, with lofty goals for the debut of its first vehicle, the 2026 Denza B5 4x4 SUV.

The B5 will land in Australia before the end of this year with customer deliveries intended for early next year at the latest.

The Toyota Prado-sized off-roader shares its underpinnings with the wildly successful BYD Shark 6 ute, although the Denza will come with a few upgrades based on feedback from the Shark 6’s launch.

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These include a higher payload and towing capability, as well as a front and rear differential lock which will help it address some issues the Shark 6 has with its off-road performance.

Denza said it is targeting a circa-$75,000 starting price for the B5, which will be offered in at least two variants - a base car with steel coils and a more basic spec, and the top-spec Leopard which will come with variable height hydraulic suspension and the full array of off-road kit.

The Leopard name is a nod to the B5’s Chinese home-market branding, where it is called the FangChengBao (Formula Leopard) 5.

Not only that, the B5 will be accompanied by a three-row alternative, the B8 - which shoots at rivals like the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series and Nissan Patrol, instead offering the group’s signature plug-in hybrid prowess paired with three rows of seats.

When asked about the strategy to go all-in on off-roaders right from the launch instead of more traditional premium segment vehicles, Denza's newly-appointed boss, Mark Harland, said it was a no-brainer to shoot for rivals like the Prado and LandCruiser from day one.

“It’s real simple: Volume - the large segment in particular - this is what Australians buy, this is where volume is for us,” he explained.

“I want to establish the brand with B5 and B8 - get some wins under the belt, get those sales and establish the network.

“Then we can look at the smaller segments - the Z9 GT, the D9 later - but we want to fish where the fish are first.”

Harland said the brand's ambitions are beyond just beating the rising tide of new premium Chinese contemporaries, like Zeekr and MG’s new IM division.

“We’re not necessarily looking and worrying about who is going to be launching what and in what segment, whether they’re a Chinese OEM or another brand. We’re looking at where we can dominate, right? Where we can move really quickly in a segment that does serious volume.”

If not Chinese bands then, where does Harland think BYD will take its customers from?

“Well let’s just say in that large SUV segment there’s a couple of perennials in there that you know, have been there for years and years.

“My job is to put the cars out there, get people into them, and [especially] getting those customers who have been driving those cars for years and years in to test drive our car.

“The sales pitch is just come and drive our car, see what you think. You know who dominates those segments, but you’re right, the Australian market is 1.2 million. There’s no growth in that and there’s new brands coming in every day.

“So we need to be stealing the share from the brands who have been in the market for a while and to do that, we need a better product which is aggressively priced and a customer experience which is as good, if not better.”

When it comes to the success of the Denza B5 sibling, the BYD Shark 6, BYD's new Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Collins, said people were “ready for a change” once they experienced what the brand had to offer.

“Customers are coming out of a HiLux or a Ranger or whatever and sitting in it and learning about the technology and they go ‘wow this is a great package’,” he said.

Harland added: “People are ready for the change right? I think the timing is one thing, but people are ready for, and are more open than they have been in the past for a disruptor, a challenger brand and I think BYD has moved from challenger to top 10, or maybe even top five brand in less than three years. Now they’re a leader.”

Collins even went so far as to predict BYD could have a shot to be one of Australia’s top three favourite automakers by the end of 2026 off the back of an array of new products, including the Atto 1 hatch, Atto 2 small SUV, Sealion 5 mid-size SUV, and Sealion 8 three-row SUV, all of which will launch imminently.

However, despite the lofty goals, Harland said BYD and Denza don’t plan to take a shot at the top of the Australian market together, but will each have their own targets in mind.

“BYD will be having a crack at Toyota,” he said. “That’s their mainstream focus.

“I’m looking at the premium segments . A different set of competitors.”

Denza will be “completely standalone” when it comes to its dealership footprint, with Denza also acting independently from BYD on the marketing and customer-facing front.

Harland said the premium marque had signed up about 15 dealers so far, some of which will also offer BYD.

“We may have some shared shops,” he says, regarding servicing. “But it’s going to be a very different environment. Luxury, high-tech in the showroom.”

Denza is expecting a 70/30 split for its B5 and B8 off-roaders, with Harland saying he suspects demand for the B8 will grow as buyers search for the kind of plug-in hybrid three-row capability it offers.

“If we were to look at other competitors in the segment, that’s the kind of split,” he said.

Expect to learn more about the B5 ahead of its Australian arrival by the end of 2025.