Aiming for around 30 outlets means Denza will be as big as Lexus – and more than three times as big as Genesis – in Australia.
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Denza Australia is looking to open up to 30 outlets – or roughly as many as Lexus – with up to half of that number operational in time for B5 and B8 customers handovers.
Speaking to Drive, Denza Australia boss Mark Harland said the initial wave of showrooms will open by the end of the year, and be ready to take orders of its B5 and B8 off-road SUVs.
“We plan to open our first five stores across the capital cities by the end of the year, at the same time we open up orders, and we will have some B5s and B8s in those stores,” Harland said.
“We’re going to quickly go from five stores opening in December to probably about 15 by the time we get into later into January and February.”
Harland explained that “the majority are standalone” showrooms, independent of BYD, who currently have around 90 dealerships open around Australia.
For reference, Genesis has about seven outlets along Australia’s east coast, while Lexus has a circa-30-strong footprint around the country.
Other premium brands such as BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz are better represented, with up to 75 outlets in Australia.
Denza plans to roll-out up to three additional models in the next year, with dealership presence also increasing to match Harland’s expected interest in the new premium brand.
“Maybe it’ll get up to 25 or 30 like other premium brands, but I don’t have ambitions to go one on every corner,” Harland said.
However, the metric most important to Harland is not the size of Denza’s retail footprint, but rather customer satisfaction of their dealership experience.
“The dealers are offering some really premium locations, and are willing to move some other brands out to accommodate Denza – they’re that excited,” Harland said.
“They are our business partners and we want them to be successful, and I know when they’re successful, and they hire good people, they take care of the customers.
“That’s important for me because outside of sales – sales is always going to be a primary objective for any brand, anyone who says otherwise is lying – but NPS [Net Promotor Score, or dealer satisfaction] I intend to be the benchmark for NPS initially from the get go.”
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Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
