- Record-breaking run took place on a closed road in Abu Dhabi
- A top speed of 312.65mph broke previous records
- The U9 Xtreme uses four powerful electric motors
Some of the earliest EVs to go on sale taught us that electric powertrains could be devastatingly quick, but very few predicted they would be snatching world records from the likes of Bugatti.
Yangwang, the luxury, high-performance sister company of BYD, has claimed the production car speed record in Abu Dhabi, recording a top speed of 312.65mph on a single run. That figure betters its own previous record of 308.4mph, set in 2025.
“Why go to the extra effort for a few mph?” we hear you cry. Well, the new record makes the U9 Xtreme the first production car to break the 500km/h barrier… on a public road, no less.
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Said road was a closed section of the Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed International Road (or the E11, if you live locally), which presented its own problems. The team had to clear the road of any sand to ensure maximum traction.
Stella Li, executive vice president of YangWang’s parent company BYD, said: “I always tell people that our engineers are young, bold and maybe a little crazy – but in a good way!”
The car that rose to the challenge is a hardcore version of the already very fast Yangwang U9, with the Xtreme model using a 1200V electrical architecture and four upgraded electric motors to produce 2,978bhp, compared to the 1,252bhp of the ‘standard’ model.
Analysis: performance without the price tag
How times have changed. The Chinese-born Yangwang U9 has managed to deliver double the horsepower of a Bugatti Veyron, and it has smashed its even more powerful successors to become the fastest production car in the world.
While the record attempt is a little contentious, owing to the fact that Yangwang only recorded its highest speeds during a single-direction run, as opposed to an average taken from each way, it is still mightily impressive… made even more so by the fact it is powered by batteries.
Yangwang says it will produce 30 of the U9 Xtreme models to be sold worldwide, although it hasn’t gone so far as to mention how much they will cost.
The standard U9, on the other hand, still boasts 1,252bhp and the ability to leap off the ground thanks to parent company BYD’s DiSus-X Intelligent Body Control System.
Currently on sale in China and a number of other markets, these cost around $200,000/£200,000, which is a veritable bargain in the modern world of insanely powerful hypercars.
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Leon Poultney
