Denza is the aspirational and luxury subsidiary of the automotive giant BYD. In fact, a little over a year ago Denza was introduced in Milan with an ambitious proposal: to compete with brands like Porsche or Mercedes-Benz on their own turf. To do so, in recent months Denza has introduced a sports car with a shooting brake body style called Z9GT, a luxury minivan, and this new off-roader called Bao 5, which is presenting its credentials to the Old Continent.

The Land Rover Freelander was a very popular SUV in Europe, manufactured between 1997 and 2015 in the English town of Solihull, on the outskirts of Birmingham. The Chinese automotive giant Chery—parent company of Omoda, Jaecco and Ebro—has reached an agreement with Jaguar-Land Rover to turn Freelander into a new brand of large, luxury SUVs, with the goal of making a place for itself in the Chinese and European market.

A few months ago, a group of Spanish businessmen led by entrepreneur and adventurer Edu Blanco announced an agreement with Chinese automotive manufacturers to resurrect the legendary Santana all-terrain vehicle brand, headquartered and with a factory in Linares, in the province of Jaén. After announcing a van or pickup called Santana 400 – which also used the base of Chinese models – the Andalusian brand has surprised everyone with the announcement of its second model, an old-school 4x4 called Santana Cajal, in honor of the Spanish Nobel laureate Santiago Ramón y Cajal.

The Mitsubishi Pajero –called Montero in our market for commercial reasons, and Shogun in the United Kingdom– is one of the best all-terrain vehicles in history. In 1982, Mitsubishi began manufacturing this 4x4 with a reduction gear and differential lock, a result of the brand's desire to create a model capable of competing with the iconic Jeep and Land Rover. The great reception of the first generation led Mitsubishi to manufacture a second generation of the model in 1992, ten years after its inception, with a host of new features, such as a new four-wheel-drive transmission, a new, more user-friendly and effective ABS system, and new, more powerful and efficient diesel and gasoline engines. But the Pajero's real leap forward came with the third generation, which was presented in 1999. This generation was renamed Montero in Spanish-speaking countries for commercial reasons, and it revolutionized the segment with a new monocoque chassis associated with independent suspension systems on each axle, rack and pinion steering, and new engines and gearboxes. Furthermore, this third generation incorporated improvements in electronic management and a setup focused on a wider audience, with a lower center of gravity that made it not very different from a passenger car on highways and fast roads, while maintaining its adventurous character off-road. Finally, Mitsubishi presented the fourth generation of the Montero in 2006, a model that the brand commercially extended until 2020, when it put an end to its commercial run. This was the safest Pajero/Montero, thanks to the incorporation of new front and side airbags and new traction and stability control.

The Toyota Land Cruiser is, for many, the best off-road vehicle on the market, especially after the disappearance of some of its main rivals, such as the Mitsubishi Pajero (Montero in our market) or the Nissan Patrol, among others.