DENZA BAO 5 lands in the UK from £69,500 – and it looks seriously capable

DENZA has confirmed UK pricing and specifications for the BAO 5, its first SUV to arrive under the premium, technology-focused brand. And if the numbers are anything to go by, this isn't simply another posh SUV designed to ferry the family to Waitrose.

The BAO 5 is being offered in the UK with a choice of two trim levels – Elegance and Ultimate – both combining a plug-in hybrid powertrain with serious off-road hardware, lashings of luxury and enough technology to make a Land Rover Defender look positively analogue.

Prices start at £69,500 for the Elegance, rising to £78,880 for the Ultimate.

Elegance: luxury meets genuine off-road intent

The entry-level Elegance is hardly what you'd call basic.

At the heart of the cabin is a 15.6” infotainment touchscreen with Google built-in, joined by separate displays for the driver and front passenger. But DENZA hasn't stopped at giving everyone a screen to stare at.

Standard equipment includes a panoramic sunroof, leather upholstery, heated, ventilated and massage-function front seats, a heated steering wheel and heated rear seats. There's also an 18-speaker Devialet sound system and 50W wireless smartphone charging.

Then there's the rather unusual addition of an in-car food storage unit. It can cool its contents to between -6°C and 6°C, or warm them to between 35°C and 50°C.

Frankly, that's either brilliant or a sign that we've reached peak SUV.

There are three interior colour choices: Eclipse Blue, Shoal Green and Tarim Desert Beige.

Outside, the Elegance sits on 18” alloy wheels and gets fixed side steps and integrated roof rails, reinforcing the BAO 5's upright, chunky appearance.

Seven exterior colours are available. Snowy White is free, while Shadow Black, Pinnacle Grey, Wagner Glacier Blue, Dolomite Green and Tarim Polar Gold add £2,000 to the bill. If you fancy something a little more adventurous, Mineral Purple comes with a £3,500 premium and a matte finish.

Ultimate: turning things up a notch

At £78,880, the Ultimate takes everything offered by the Elegance and adds another layer of luxury and technology.

There's a set of 20” alloy wheels, electrically deploying side steps, higher-grade Nappa leather upholstery, ventilated rear seats and an additional wireless smartphone charging tray.

But the really interesting addition is DiSus-P suspension.

The system uses air springs with continuously adjustable damping and ride-height control, allowing the BAO 5's body height to vary by as much as 140mm – 90mm upwards and 50mm downwards.

That isn't just useful for making the BAO 5 look imposing in a supermarket car park. It's designed to help when the going gets properly rough, giving the driver additional ground clearance when tackling difficult terrain.

There's even a self-levelling parking function, allowing the BAO 5 to create a level platform when parked on uneven ground.

Which, for anyone who has ever tried cooking breakfast on a tailgate while slowly sliding downhill, sounds considerably more useful than it might initially appear.

DMO: the clever bit underneath

While the BAO 5 might look like a luxury SUV, its mechanical specification suggests DENZA has taken the off-road side of the equation seriously.

The BAO 5 uses DENZA's DMO Dual Mode Off-road plug-in hybrid powertrain, developed specifically with off-road driving in mind.

There are electronic diff-locks at both the front and rear, while an energy centre lock can distribute torque between the axles up to 30 times faster than a conventional mechanical system.

There are also 16 different driving modes, designed to cater for different surfaces and driving conditions, though I suspect that’ll just confuse the hell out folk!

The powertrain combines electric motors with a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine mounted longitudinally under the bonnet. Rather unusually, the petrol engine primarily acts as a generator for the battery, although it can drive the wheels directly when demand is high.

Each axle gets its own electric motor. The front motor produces 272PS, while the rear motor produces 388PS, giving the BAO 5 a total system output of 544PS and 760Nm of torque.

That's a considerable amount of shove for something that is also supposed to be capable of crawling over rocks.

The electric motors should also offer one of the biggest advantages of the system off-road: extremely precise control of torque at each axle. Rather than waiting for a conventional drivetrain to decide what to do, the electric motors can respond almost instantly, potentially making the BAO 5 considerably easier to place on technical terrain.

0-62mph in under five seconds

The BAO 5 isn't exactly short of performance on the road, either.

The Elegance can accelerate from 0-62mph in just 4.8 seconds, while the Ultimate takes 5.0 seconds.

That's properly quick for a large, rugged-looking SUV – and rather amusing when you consider the same vehicle is also being marketed as something capable of tackling serious off-road terrain.

Power comes from a 31.8kWh Blade Battery, integrated into the BAO 5's ladder-frame chassis.

DENZA claims an electric-only range of up to 56 miles, making the BAO 5 potentially capable of handling a substantial proportion of everyday driving without firing up the petrol engine.

When the battery does need replenishing, DC charging at up to 100kW means a 30-80 per cent charge can take as little as 16 minutes.

A very different kind of SUV

On paper at least, the BAO 5 is an intriguing proposition.

It combines the sort of luxury equipment you'd expect from a premium SUV with a ladder-frame chassis, proper off-road hardware, sophisticated suspension and a plug-in hybrid system capable of delivering 544PS.

The bigger question, of course, is how all of this technology works when the road disappears.

That's where the BAO 5 will ultimately have to prove itself. There is no shortage of expensive SUVs that look like they could climb Everest but would rather not get their wheels dirty.

With electronic locking differentials, selectable off-road modes, height-adjustable air suspension and DENZA's DMO system, the BAO 5 at least appears to have been engineered with more than just appearances in mind.

And at £69,500, it is entering a part of the market where buyers will expect plenty for their money.

Whether the BAO 5 can genuinely combine luxury, technology, performance and serious off-road ability remains to be seen. But with UK orders now open, we're going to find out soon enough.

Website: Denza UK