Daniel Craig Stars in Denza Ad — And the Z9 GT Is Coming to WA

Daniel Craig may have hung up his Walther PPK, but he hasn't slowed down. The former James Bond is now the face of Denza — BYD's luxury sub-brand — and the partnership gives us a decent excuse to talk about what's actually coming to Australian showrooms in the next 18 months.

The ad itself is worth a watch. Craig uses the Denza smartphone app's Remote Parking Assist to reverse the Z9 GT out of a tight spot — because his dog refuses to go out in the rain — before heading to the countryside for some spirited dirt driving. It's slick, self-aware, and does a solid job of making a Chinese EV brand feel premium. Whether that translates to sales is another question, but the strategy is clearly serious.

What Denza Is Already Selling in Australia

Denza isn't just a concept for Australian buyers — it's already here. The brand kicked off local customer deliveries earlier this year with the B5 and B8 plug-in hybrid SUVs, followed by the D9 electric people mover. If you're in Perth and haven't seen a D9 yet, give it a few months.

The B8 PHEV SUV is the one to watch for buyers doing longer regional runs — the kind of trip from Perth to Esperance or up through the Pilbara where pure EV range still makes some buyers nervous. A plug-in hybrid takes that anxiety off the table.

The Z9 GT: 850kW, 2.7 Seconds, and a Nine-Minute Charge

The headline act arrives in the third quarter of 2026. The Denza Z9 GT is a large electric grand tourer aimed squarely at the Porsche Taycan, and on paper it's seriously quick. The tri-motor all-wheel drive setup produces 850kW, with a claimed 0–100km/h time of 2.7 seconds. That's the kind of number that makes the Mitcham Highway seem very short, very fast.

The Z9 GT runs on BYD's next-generation Blade Battery 2.0 and supports Flash charging at up to 1500kW peak DC — meaning the battery can go from 10 to 97 per cent in around nine minutes. That's not a typo. For context, that's faster than most people spend in a servo getting a pie and a coffee on a road trip.

Flash charging infrastructure is being built out, but the first sites will be at selected Denza dealers in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide — not Perth — in the final quarter of 2026. WA buyers will want to keep an eye on when that network reaches us, because without local fast-charging, some of the Z9 GT's headline appeal is dulled on longer runs outside the metro area.

Inside, the cabin leans hard into the luxury angle: a 50-inch augmented reality head-up display, a built-in fridge, and advanced DiSus-A air suspension that's claimed to manage a tyre blowout at highway speeds. Given the distances WA drivers cover on roads where tyre damage is a real risk, that last feature is more than a party trick.

Pricing and full local specs for the Z9 GT haven't been confirmed yet. Given the Taycan it's targeting starts around $180,000 in Australia, expect Denza to come in below that — but not by a small margin if it wants to be taken seriously in the premium segment.

For WA buyers considering the brand now, the B5 and B8 PHEVs are the practical entry point. The Z9 GT is the one to bookmark for 2026.