The legacy off-road players are terrified. They should be. BYD arrived in Australia with a whisper, but its luxury arm, Denza, just kicked the jaded old market fair in the cobblers.
The 2026 Denza B8 is a 3.3-tonne middle finger to the status quo. It is designed to hunt Land Cruisers and Range Rovers for sport, and it has the hardware to back up the arrogance. While legacy brands have spent decades resting on their laurels, charging premiums for heritage and badges, Denza has spent that time engineering a 4×4 that makes those icons look like relics of a bygone era. This is not just a new PHEV model; it is a declaration that the 4×4 hierarchy is about the change.
To put this in perspective, we spent the previous week in BYD Sealion 8, also an SUV super-hybrid. It felt much faster but the soft-roader is strictly sporty rather than a serious cross-desert monster like the Denza. You can read about the Sealion 8 next week.
B8 isn’t some fragile little EV pretending to be big and butch and rugged; it is actually big and butch and rugged. It is a specialised weapon built on the DMO Super Hybrid platform. The 2.0-litre turbo engine has dual electric motors and a single-speed dedicated hybrid transmission (DHT). Total output is a ridiculous 425kW/760Nm, and despite weighing as much as a small moon at 3,290kg, the old gal hits 100km/h in 4.8 seconds. It doesn’t accelerate like the lighter Sealion 8; it lunges urgently. The power delivery is instantaneous, bypassing the lag-filled frustration of traditional ageing farm machinery like the clattering diesel monstrosities. They aren’t PHEVs either so have taken the shove of Trump’s demented war. Diesel was over $3 a litre while the Denza was cosily plugged in at home.
You get all that shove the moment you think about it, making overtakes effortless and steep inclines a suggestion.
Range anxiety is for people driving golf carts. The 36.8kWh Blade battery claims a combined range of 1,040km. The petrol engine acts as a generator or provides direct drive at high speeds, so you never end up stranded in the middle of nowhere. It is a relentless power plant designed for the long haul, one the conservatives spent a decade telling Australian buyers couldn’t be done. They said Labor was taking people’s weekends away but suggesting electrification, and for a while their constant lying worked. But, in a country as vast as Australia, that range is the difference between a weekend adventure and a towie in the Simpson. The B8 understands the brief: provide the efficiency of a hybrid without sacrificing the grit for the outback. It is the smartest powertrain currently fitted to a large SUV and one that the Japanese will find it hard to oppose.
Above: 2026 Polestar 2 DM Performance The Forgotten Polestar is Fabulous
#Polestar2 #EV #BowersWilkins #ElectricCars #SwedishDesign
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ABOVE: The Denza B8 in the mud, in the studio, and inside the cabin.
Off the bitumen, the B8 is terrifyingly capable and ridiculously smooth. It has front and rear mechanical differential locks and DiSus-P intelligent hydraulic suspension that has a gorgeously wafting quality about it. Eventually you’ll develop the desire to get rough. I won’t, but you might.
You get 140mm of travel and a maximum ground clearance of 310mm. It will wade through 890mm of water and crawl over obstacles with a 34° approach angle and 35° departure angle. The Cell-to-Chassis structure integrates the battery into the frame, making a rigid cage of high-strength steel that can withstand a 12-tonne roof crush. And no, rocks won’t make it burst into flames.
This isn’t just about statistics; it is about confidence. When you are deep in the bush, you want to know the chassis won’t flex like a cheap suit and the battery is protected against prods. Denza has over-engineered every single component, and it feels it.
Inside, the B8 swaps the brutalist Le Corbusier for a leather sanctuary. We have a 6-seat captain’s chair setup, but a 7-seat version can be had.
Rarely am I so taken with a car, especially a 4×4, but every time I twiddled a knob, opened a menu, or touched a surface, “no way” came from my mouth whether I want it to or not. Our 6S trim gets Nappa leather, 4 heated and cooled massaging seats that make a three-hour trek feel like a spa day. The tech is dominated by a 17.3-inch screen and an 18-speaker Devialet sound system that sounds like a concert hall.
The cabin is whisper quiet, isolated from the roar of the dirt and the wind by what feels like a cocoon of time and space. It creates complete isolation between the violence of the terrain outside and the serenity inside. It is a crafted space where every material feels premium and every button click feels deliberate. Even the t-bar gear selector has a modern make-over. It raises gently from its cubby hole as the system wakes up. Yes, it is something else that may need mending, but you’ll make the kids marvel meanwhile.
It even comes with a car refrigerator and hotbox, something I can’t overstate enough. It opens from the centre console either like a normal armrest or the rear touch screen. The latter presents the heated or chilled basket drawer ready to go. The temperature is from -6°C to around 15°C for the fridge, and up to 50°C for the oven warming.
Every door has soft-closing, and there are 16 drive modes for every situation. Whether you need “Leopard Turn” for tight trails or “Tug-of-War Mode” to make your butch mates sweat, the excessive B8 has a setting for it. It has 13 airbags and a fabulous night vision system that also sees through atrocious weather. It is as safe as a vault, and weighs about the same as one.
There is a Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) system that turns the car into a mobile power station for your campsite. You can run coffee machines, lights, or tools straight from the battery. It is practical luxury at its peak, providing utility that legacy manufacturers haven’t even considered yet. There is a supplied cord for that, as well as one to plug into a 3-pin plug at home for charging. And in the name of all that is holy, please lock the bloody thing into the car when the car is locked. Mean spirited haters will unplug both ends and leave it curled up beside your car, or worse still, nick it. Most of us can’t get the plugs out when we want to, ne’er-do-wells do it because they’re horrible people
The Denza B8 is a complete shift in the automotive landscape. As I said earlier, for years, we were told that electric and hybrid vehicles couldn’t handle the harsh Australian environment. It was always nonsense, and the B8 proves that theory is dead as can be. It has far more power, better technology, and vastly superior comfort to the disappointing Land Cruiser 300, Nissan Patrol, and even rivals the Land Rover and Range Rover. The added advantage is that unlike the JLR products, the Denza will also bring you home.
The price point is cheaper than Land Cruiser 300 and Prado like for like and 1/3 of a Range Rover that doesn’t have all this gear. It makes the competition look greedy and grossly inadequate. It is a high-performance, ultra-strong contender that doesn’t care about heritage because that has ceased to matter. Heritage has shown itself to be better in our memories than it ever could be in reality. It puts the old guard on notice: adapt or be left in a cloud of misery behind the 3.3-tonne Chinese brute.
The 3.5-tonne braked towing capacity means your caravan or boat needn’t be left behind. The DMO system has proved to be all that was promised, using the electric motors for the low-end torque bogans need for towing. The fuel consumption is equally impressive for a small office block. Although rated at 9.89 L/100km when the battery is low, you’ll spend almost all your city travel on the battery alone.
Denza has a nicely considered blend of butch and class. The brutalist exterior styling is imposing without being tacky, and there are hints of Europe and the UK about the looks. It looks expensive because it is built well, with 96% high-strength steel ensuring it remains solid for years to come. The DiSus-P suspension isn’t just for off-roading either; on the highway, it irons out most imperfections, with a ride quality near European luxury brands costing twice as much. We have noticed a little wafting here and there, and although well damped, the occasional thump can be heard, sort of.
Let’s recap our favourite things: Denza B8 is a revelation. After all the hype we felt sure we’d be let down, but not a bit of it. It really is the vehicle that the Australian market has been waiting for. It is rugged, luxurious and has features I’ve never seen, at least not all on the same wagon. The fridge/oven, big screen, massage function and brilliant sound are such fun, but there are electric seats that can form one big flat surface. You could, in theory, abandon the stinky, mozzie-infested tent, for an air-conditioned palace.
Sure, it is an SUV that wraps its arms around the future but it will serve its owners well beyond its function for as long as it holds together. It is perhaps why I was so lukewarm about the Land Cruisers at 150k because after waiting for 12 years, we got a car that looked and felt 12 years old. It hardly changed. The interior felt ordinary and the equipment really hasn’t improved for a decade. The Denza would give the Lexus LX a run for its money in just about every measurable way.
It is a gentle surge level of supercar performance, the utility of a tractor, and the luxury of a private jet. The era of the “white appliance on wheels” is over and I really think BMW, Mercedes, Range Rover and Audi should be worried. Toyota and Nissan should probably be ashamed.
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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