Denza, which currently has only the Denza D9 MPV on sale, delivered 10,526 units in April, the second consecutive month with more than 10,000 units.

Denza, the premium new energy vehicle (NEV) brand of BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY), has announced the launch schedule for the upcoming Denza N7, after pre-sales of the new SUV began last month.

The Denza N7 will be officially launched in late June, with deliveries starting in July, Zhao Changjiang, general manager of Denza's sales division, said yesterday at the company's first brand day after it was effectively controlled by BYD.

Denza is a joint venture established by BYD and Daimler in February 2011, with each holding a 50 percent stake at the time. In February 2022, the Daimler brand was rebranded as Mercedes-Benz.

BYD's stake in Denza increased to 90 percent last year, and Mercedes-Benz's stake decreased to 10 percent.

In August 2022, Denza let the D9 MPV go on sale, the brand's first model after the reorganization. The Denza D9 began deliveries at the end of October last year and 10,526 units were delivered in April this year, the second consecutive month with more than 10,000 units.

The Denza N7, the second model after the Denza equity change, is a 5-seat midsize SUV with a length, width and height of 4,860 mm, 1,935 mm and 1,602 mm respectively, and a wheelbase of 2,940 mm.

The model will have two front design options, differing in the daytime running lights below the headlights, one with a bar and the other with a grille, Zhao said at yesterday's event.

The N7 will be delivered with smart driving hardware and the advanced assisted driving software will be available starting in December, Zhao said.

The Denza N7 has its own operating system and is compatible with different systems, Huawei's HarmonyOS being one of them.

Denza D9 consumers are in their 30s and 40s, and 30 percent of them ordered the Denza N7, Zhao said.

Data from more than 10,000 orders show that Denza N7 consumers are over 23 years old, younger than those for the D9, he said.

Denza opened reservations for the N7 on the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18, but its pricing information was not released.

Zhao said on Weibo last December 20 that the SUV aims to capture the market for traditional internal combustion engine cars priced around 400,000 yuan ($56,300).

On April 25, Denza said the N7 received 10,569 pre-orders, just seven days after pre-sales bean.

In addition to the N7, Denza has also unveiled the exterior and interior design of another SUV, the Denza N8.

($1 = 7.1044 RMB)

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