Denza 500, the new electric vehicle from the Daimler Group for the Chinese market

Despite the recent stake-taking by the Geely Group in the shareholding of the Daimler Group and, consequently, in Mercedes Benz, the star brand continues with its planned development of new models for the Chinese market, with BYD one of the main rivals in the Eastern market of its new reference shareholder.

Shenzen DENZA New Energy Automotive Co, or Denza Auto, is the name of the company formed in 2011, 50 percent owned by Daimler Greater China (the Chinese subsidiary of the Daimler Group) and BYD Automotive Industry, until now the main reference partner of the German consortium in the Eastern country. Denza Auto is the first Sino-American joint venture dedicated to the development of electric vehicles powered exclusively by battery, and it is one of the key pillars in the Daimler Group’s strategy for vehicles powered by new energies within its product offensive.

One of those new products is the Denza 500, a model whose new generation has been on sale in the Chinese market from today, for which it has been specifically developed, designed and produced. With a renewed exterior design, the Denza 500 draws on the Daimler Group’s vast experience in vehicle architecture development and safety engineering, combined with BYD’s mastery in battery production and all the technology derived from it.

The new Denza 500 now features a renewed and exclusive exterior design, more modern and up to date. It incorporates new LED headlights shaped like a “tiger’s eye”, as well as new LED rear lights with a wavy design. In the cabin, the most significant change is the incorporation of a 9-inch touchscreen on the dashboard, a foretaste of the improved connectivity services added to the vehicle. New charging solutions, a renewed smartphone app, WeChat integration and a mobile navigation system are just some of the main novelties introduced, thanks to which the Denza 500 can at all times know the exact location of the more than 112,000 electric vehicle charging stations already installed in China (let’s see if the Spanish government takes note).

The new Denza 500 also features a new battery, more modern and technologically more advanced, as well as much lighter, thanks to which the electric range of the car has increased to match the 500 km of its range suggested by the vehicle’s name. During its development process, the Denza 500 passed without problems the verification tests of its operation at temperatures down to -40°C, which guarantees the correct functioning of the battery even under severe weather conditions.

The Denza 500 now joins the Denza 400 range, a model that saw its sales to private customers in the Chinese market grow by 85 percent during 2017.