BYD’s luxury brand Yangwang says its U9 Xtreme electric hypercar has reached 503.17km/h (312.66mph), making it the first production car to pass 500km/h.
The run took place on 1 November 2026 on the E11 motorway in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi. Local authorities closed a 10km section, including a 7km straight, for the attempt. German endurance racer Marc Basseng drove.
How the record was set
The team made four runs over two days. On 31 October the car peaked at 490km/h. Engineers then changed the aerodynamics, suspension settings and tyre pressures, and the second run on 1 November produced the record.
The FIA, motorsport’s governing body, announced the result and says the speed “has been recognised”. The car also holds two Guinness World Records titles: the highest speed for a production car, and for an electric production car, each in a single-direction run. That matters: it is a one-way figure, not the average of runs in both directions.
Beating its own record
The same car set the previous mark of 496.22km/h at the ATP Papenburg test track in Germany in September 2025. That run took the title from the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, which reached 490.48km/h in 2019. The new figure adds 6.95km/h.
The U9 Xtreme uses four electric motors with a combined output of about 2,220kW (2,977hp), a 1,200-volt electrical system and torque vectoring that adjusts up to 100 times a second. No more than 30 will be built.
What it means for UK buyers
You won’t be able to buy one here: the U9 Xtreme is a 30-car special, and Yangwang doesn’t yet sell any model in the UK. We list the Yangwang U8 SUV as expected around 2027, but nothing is confirmed.
The record still matters as a signal of how far Chinese EV engineering has come. High-voltage systems, powerful motors and battery cooling developed for cars like this are the kind of technology that tends to filter down into everyday models over time.
