Denza
B5
Model Profile
From $82,138
Driveaway estimate · NSW · priced Aug 2026. Varies by state. Details →
Denza is BYD's premium marque, and the B5 is the first car it has sold in Australia. On sale here since December 2025, it lands as a ladder-frame, plug-in hybrid 4WD wagon pitched straight at the Toyota Prado, but for less money: from $74,990 before on-road costs. Underneath is a heavily reworked version of the BYD Shark 6 ute's chassis, dressed in an SUV body and a near-luxury cabin, with a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol plug-in hybrid making a combined 400kW. It is a lot of hardware and a lot of polish for the price, and it asks Australians to trust a brand that did not exist here until recently.
Dec 2025
Denza's first Australian model
$74,990
before on-road costs; Prado-rivalling
5 stars
tested 2025, all variants
What matters to you?
400kW
Power760Nm
Torque3000kg
Braked towing3.9L/100km
Fuel economyRange shown across the B5 line-up. Pick a priority to see the numbers that matter to you.
Images are illustrative and digitally rendered. They may not reflect the exact variant, colour or trim. Details →
Living with the B5.
The Denza B5 is a genuinely unusual thing: a body-on-frame off-road wagon that plugs in. Most of its rivals at this size and price, the Toyota Prado and Ford Everest among them, run turbo-diesel engines and nothing else. The B5 instead pairs a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine with two electric motors for a combined 400kW and 760Nm, fed by a 31.8kWh battery you charge from a wall. The promise is two cars in one: quiet, 90km WLTC electric range for the weekday commute, and the reach of a petrol hybrid when the bitumen runs out. On paper it claims 3.9 litres per 100km, a figure no diesel Prado gets close.
What makes it more than a tech demonstration is that the off-road hardware is real. Both variants get locking front and rear differentials, a long list of off-road drive modes, a tank-turn function that spins the car on its axis, and a rear-axle low-range gearset with the front motor electronically matched — a modest, computer-managed low range rather than a diesel four-wheel drive's mechanical transfer case. That is the kit of a serious four-wheel drive, not a soft-roader, and Australian reviewers have backed up the spec sheet, calling it more capable off the road than its luxury looks suggest. The base car clears 220mm and wades 700mm; the flagship Leopard adds adjustable hydraulic suspension that lifts it higher again for deeper water and steeper angles.
Inside is where the price starts to look sharp. Even the base B5 brings leather, a head-up display, twin digital displays, a 16-speaker Devialet stereo, a panoramic sunroof and heated, ventilated and massaging front seats. The Leopard piles on Nappa leather, the adaptive suspension and bigger wheels. More than one reviewer has reached for a Lexus comparison on cabin feel, which is rare air for a four-wheel drive at this price. For a buyer cross-shopping a mid-spec Prado, the equipment gap is confronting.
The catch is weight and what it leaves behind. At close to three tonnes the B5 rides plush on sealed roads but turns firm and busy on corrugations, and the heft blunts the handling. The bigger asterisk is payload: the base car carries 600kg and the Leopard just 490kg, tight for five adults and luggage once you also lean on the 3,000kg braked tow rating. And it is a brand-new badge with no resale history in Australia, cushioned by a six-year warranty but unproven over the long haul. The value pick is the base B5, which keeps the full drivetrain, the off-road hardware and the most payload while asking the least on trust. Buyers who lead with a proven resale record or a dealer in every outback town should read the cross-shop in the verdict below.
2025
The B5 is the first model of BYD's premium Denza brand to go on sale in Australia, which it did in December 2025.
B5 Range Walk
The B5 range is short: two variants on the same plug-in hybrid drivetrain and the same 400kW. The choice is really about suspension, trim and how much payload you are willing to trade. Prices below are NSW driveaway, as of June 2026.
- 01
B5
The value pickFrom $82,138
The base car, from $81,986 driveaway, is far from basic: leather, a head-up display, twin digital displays, a 16-speaker Devialet stereo, a panoramic sunroof, heated, ventilated and massaging front seats, locking front and rear diffs and a rear-axle low-range gearset. It also carries the most payload at 600kg.
- 02
B5 Leopard
Off-road and luxury buyersFrom $87,388
From $87,236 driveaway, the Leopard adds BYD's DiSus-P adjustable hydraulic suspension that raises ride height for deeper water and steeper angles, plus Nappa leather, bigger wheels, ventilated rear seats and a digital rear-view mirror. The trade is payload, down to 490kg.
Driveaway estimate · NSW · priced Aug 2026. Varies by state. Details →
Under the skin.
How much can the Denza B5 tow?
The Denza B5 is rated to tow up to 3,000 kg with a braked trailer and 750 kg without trailer brakes.
Heaviest braked trailer allowed, quoted as ATM: the loaded trailer including ball weight.
3,000 kg
Limit for trailers without their own brakes.
750 kg
Gross vehicle mass: the most the loaded vehicle may weigh, ball weight included.
3,497 kg
Gross combination mass: vehicle and trailer together, both fully loaded.
6,122 kg
The vehicle as delivered, before people, cargo and accessories.
2,897 kg
Everything you may add: people, cargo, accessories and ball weight.
600 kg
Downward load on the tow ball; it counts toward GVM. Assumed at 10 per cent of the tow rating: Denza does not publish a limit.
300 kg
Assumed 10%
What's left once the van is hooked up
Hook up 3,000 kg with 300 kg on the ball (assumed at 10 per cent) and the B5 has 225 kg of payload left for people, cargo and accessories. The limit that bites here is the GCM, not the GVM.
You cannot use the full payload and the full tow rating at the same time: together they would exceed the 6,122 kg GCM by 75 kg. With the vehicle loaded to its GVM, the trailer limit drops to about 2,925 kg.
Assuming 10 per cent of the trailer weight.
Two adults plus luggage is roughly 400 kg.
Over a limit. This combination does not comply.
Tow rating
0 kg under the 3,000 kg braked rating
Vehicle GVM
Over GVM by 100 kg. Lighten the load or the ball.
Combined GCM
Over GCM by 175 kg. Trailer and load cannot both stay.
Tow ball limit
No published limit. Vans usually need 8 to 12 per cent of ATM on the ball.
The rules and the fine print
Figures are manufacturer maximums for the B5and can change with model year; the compliance plate and handbook of your exact vehicle govern. In Australia, trailers over 750 kg GTM (the loaded weight on the trailer's own wheels) need their own brakes, and over 2,000 kg they need brakes on all wheels plus a breakaway system. Ball weight typically runs 8 to 12 per cent of ATM. Axle loads and tyre ratings are not modelled here. Checking a different car against your van? Use the towing calculator.
How it protects.
ANCAP · Tested 2025
This vehicle achieved the highest possible ANCAP safety rating, with strong results across occupant protection, pedestrian safety and safety-assist technology.
The Denza B5 is the rare body-on-frame off-roader you can plug in, and it backs the novelty with real hardware: front and rear diff locks, off-road modes and a rear-axle low-range gearset, plus a luxury cabin that shames its price. From its December 2025 launch price before on-road costs it undercuts a Toyota Prado while adding kit a Prado buyer can only envy, and it carries a fresh five-star ANCAP rating. The costs are weight and trust. At nearly three tonnes the payload is tight, the ride turns firm on corrugations, and Denza is an unknown badge here with no resale record yet. A diesel Toyota Prado or Ford Everest gives up the plug-in economy and the cabin kit but answers with a proven resale record and a dealer network that reaches the bush. If value and payload lead your brief, buy the base B5. If you want the adjustable suspension and the plushest cabin, step up to the Leopard.
- Genuine off-road hardware: diff locks, off-road modes and a rear-axle low-range gearset
- Plug-in hybrid running costs from a body-on-frame 4WD
- Premium, feature-rich cabin that undercuts a Prado
- Fresh five-star ANCAP rating across the range
- Combined 400kW and 760Nm, brisk for the size
- Low payload, especially the 490kg Leopard
- Close to three tonnes; firm, busy ride on rough roads
- Brand-new badge with no Australian resale history
- Capped-price servicing dollar costs still unpublished
- Heft blunts the on-road handling
Where the B5 has been.
Past generations. Context, not the car on sale today.
Denza is a premium brand owned by BYD, the Chinese giant that has become one of Australia's fastest-growing car makers. The B5 is Denza's first model sold in Australia, so there is no local lineage yet, only the engineering it borrows from its BYD parent.
BYD Shark 6: the donor
The B5 is built on a luxury-focused version of the ladder-frame chassis and plug-in hybrid system that debuted in Australia in the BYD Shark 6 ute. The B5 lifts power to a combined 400kW, adds locking front and rear differentials, and wraps it in an SUV body and a far plusher cabin.
December 2025: Denza arrives
Denza launched in Australia in December 2025 with the B5 as its price leader, alongside the larger six and seven-seat B8. The B5 is the model on this page; the B8 is a separate, bigger and dearer vehicle.
Asked about the B5.
By Yuri Cartland, Editor