Denza Z Convertible: BYD's tri-motor drop-top hits 1,000+ hp and sub-2-second launches

BYD's premium sub-brand Denza pulled the wraps off the Z convertible at Auto China 2026 in Beijing on April 24. Three motors, more than 1,000 hp at launch, and a charging system capable of accepting 1,500 kW at peak. The company has already committed to a global launch at Goodwood Festival of Speed in July 2026, which puts the Z in front of Ferraris and Bugattis on the hill inside three months of its reveal.

The spec, as revealed

• Powertrain: three-motor electric, 1,000+ hp at reveal (later homologation targets peak output up to roughly 1,582 hp)
• 0-100 km/h: under 2 seconds
• Peak DC charging: 1,500 kW ("Flash Charging 2.0")
• Body style: two-door convertible with retractable hardtop
• Platform: BYD e-Platform 4.0 derivative, shared architecture with the Yangwang U9 supercar
• Global launch venue: Goodwood Festival of Speed, July 2026
• Pricing: not confirmed for global markets

Read that charging number again

1,500 kW is not a typo. For context, Porsche's Taycan on an Ionity 350 kW charger already feels like a technology-industry first. Tesla's V4 Superchargers cap around 500 kW. Denza's number is triple that, and it requires infrastructure that essentially does not yet exist outside a handful of pilot sites in Chinese cities. The Z shipping with 1,500 kW peak capability is a claim about where BYD thinks China's charging network will be in eighteen months, not what a Denza Z owner will experience at a European motorway stop in 2027.

The claim still matters. It sets a technical ceiling that European hypercar-adjacent EVs have not tried to match, and it tells you that Denza intends to be measured against Yangwang and Xiaomi's SU7 Ultra, not against a Polestar 6.

Why "sub-2 seconds" isn't the pitch

Every third Chinese-market EV of this class quotes a sub-2-second 0-100 figure. Xiaomi's SU7 Ultra does it. The Yangwang U9 does it. Zeekr and NIO both have variants in that neighborhood. What separates the Z is the body style. A tri-motor convertible with those numbers is a nearly empty segment. The Rimac Nevera R does convertible-adjacent, at three times the price. The Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster does convertible, at half the power. The Aston Martin Vanquish Volante does convertible, without the electric acceleration.

Denza is pointing at the space between the Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider and the AMG SL 63, and doing it in a segment European manufacturers have decided not to build for. Whether the Z is actually a driver's car when the roof is down is a separate question. The reveal answers "does this exist" with yes. The Goodwood launch answers "does it work" one way or the other.

The market context

BYD sold roughly 4.3 million vehicles in 2025 across all brands. Denza is the group's premium spearhead: fewer volumes, more per-unit margin, higher price point. The Z sits above the Z9 GT shooting brake that just entered Europe at around €115,000. The Z will be priced higher. Denza has not confirmed final numbers, but industry outlets covering the reveal are floating a range that puts the Z in six-figure euro territory, though still comfortably below the €300,000 mark where Porsche Turbo GT convertibles live.

If BYD ships this car globally in 2027 at anywhere near the pricing it hits domestically, Ferrari and Aston Martin will have to answer a question they've been able to ignore for a decade: what does an under-€200k tri-motor electric convertible do to a €300k V12 GT customer?

Our take

The Denza Z is not going to win a Nürburgring lap record. It is not going to convince a first-generation 911 owner to switch. What it does, at Auto China 2026 and at Goodwood in July, is stake out a segment that European hypercar manufacturers have decided not to enter. That's a valuable thing to do.

The 1,500 kW charging claim is impressive on paper and useless in practice for anyone not driving in Shenzhen. The sub-2-second acceleration is expected for the class. The interesting number is 1,582 hp on final homologation, in a car with a folding roof, from a brand whose parent company sells more EVs than anyone else on earth. Twelve months ago, the pitch would have been laughable. It is not laughable now, which is itself the story.

See where it slots against other performance EVs on our fastest electric cars list.

The basics

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Sources: Auto China 2026: Five Cars That Signal a Design Shift (The Weekly Driver); Denza Z Convertible reveal coverage (CarNewsChina); Autocar's 2026 EV launch calendar. Photography: BYD / Denza press materials.