The electric hypercar BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme has set a new speed record for production vehicles at 503.17 km/h. The run took place on November 1, 2026, on a closed section of the E11 highway in the Al Dhafra region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. German racing driver Marc Basseng was behind the wheel. The achieved speed was officially recognized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), and the run itself earned the car two Guinness World Records: for a production car and for a production electric vehicle in a single direction.
The new result exceeded the previous record of the U9 Xtreme, set in September 2025 at the ATP Papenburg test facility in Germany, by 6.95 km/h. Back then, the hypercar accelerated to 496.22 km/h. Ahead of the new run, engineers refined the suspension, aerodynamic, and tire settings: the angle of the rear wing was modified to increase downforce on the rear axle, the suspension software was recalibrated, and tire pressures were adjusted. According to BYD, the car completed two runs with a top speed of 490 km/h on October 31, after which the settings were further adjusted.
The Yangwang U9 Xtreme is equipped with four electric motors delivering a combined output of over 3,000 hp and a 1,200-volt electrical architecture. Each motor can rev up to 30,000 rpm, and an independent torque-vectoring system for each wheel adjusts traction more than 100 times per second. Specially developed Giti semi-slick tires and the DiSus-X body control system, which allows rapid adjustments to suspension characteristics at each wheel, are also utilized to achieve the record-breaking speed.
The Yangwang U9 Xtreme is an extreme version of the U9 supercar and will be produced in a limited run of no more than 30 units. Prior to this new achievement, the same car had already set a record at the Nürburgring for production electric vehicles, completing the Nordschleife in 6 minutes and 59.157 seconds. Now, the U9 Xtreme has become the first production car to surpass the 500 km/h milestone, achieving this solely on an electric powertrain.