Yangwang U9 Xtreme: The 308mph BYD Hypercar That Dethroned Bugatti

Yangwang U9 Xtreme is a 30-unit limited electric hypercar that hit 496.22 km/h (308.4 mph) in September 2025, making it the world’s fastest production car. It uses a 2,220 kW quad-motor platform and also holds the sub-7-minute Nürburgring EV record.

BYD just did something no gasoline hypercar maker has managed in years — beat Bugatti at its own game, with a battery instead of a fuel tank. Here’s how a Chinese EV hit 308mph and rewrote the record books.

Key Takeaways:

• Verified top speed: 496.22 km/h / 308.4 mph (ATP Papenburg, Germany, September 2025) — beats the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ (490.5 km/h / 304.8 mph)
• Power: 2,220 kW / ~2,977–3,000 PS from four motors (555 kW each), power-to-weight of 1,217 PS per tonne
• World’s first mass-produced 1,200-volt full-domain high-voltage EV platform
• Nürburgring Nordschleife lap: 6:59.157 — first electric production car ever under 7 minutes
• Limited to 30 units worldwide; one unit sold for over RMB 20 million (~$2.76 million) at the 2026 Beijing Auto Show
• BYD is targeting an attempt to break 500 km/h at Papenburg in November 2026

Yangwang U9 Xtreme: The 308mph BYD Hypercar That Dethroned Bugatti

New Delhi: For nearly six years, the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ held one of the automotive world’s most stubborn records: fastest production car on Earth, at 304.8 mph. In September 2025, a Chinese electric hypercar took that crown away — and it didn’t even need a gearbox to do it. Meet the BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme, a 30-unit, quad-motor EV that hit 496.22 km/h (308.4 mph) at Germany’s ATP Papenburg test track, becoming the fastest verified production car ever built.

How Fast Is the Yangwang U9 Xtreme?

The Yangwang U9 Xtreme’s official, independently verified top speed is 496.22 km/h (308.4 mph), set on 14 September 2025 at the ATP Automotive Testing Papenburg oval in Germany with professional driver Marc Basseng behind the wheel. That run broke the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+’s 490.5 km/h (304.8 mph) record, which had stood since 2019.

The car doesn’t just go in a straight line, either. A month later, a second U9 Xtreme — driven by German endurance racer Moritz Kranz — lapped the 20.8 km Nürburgring Nordschleife in 6 minutes, 59.157 seconds, making it the first pure-electric production car ever to dip under the 7-minute mark on the “Green Hell.”

Also Read: Latest Electric Car News on AutoAkhbar

Is the Yangwang U9 Xtreme the World’s Fastest Car?

Yes — as of its September 2025 record run, the Yangwang U9 Xtreme is the fastest verified production car in the world, ahead of the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ (304.8 mph), the Aspark Owl (272.6 mph), and the Rimac Nevera R (268.2 mph). It’s also the fastest electric car ever built, and the first EV to beat a combustion hypercar’s outright speed record.

One important nuance: this is a record for production cars completing an independently verified top-speed run. BYD isn’t stopping there — the company has confirmed it will attempt to break the 500 km/h (310 mph) barrier at Papenburg in November 2026, which would push the gap even further.

What Makes the Yangwang U9 Xtreme Unique?

The U9 Xtreme isn’t just a tuned-up version of the regular U9 — it’s a purpose-built record-chaser with real engineering behind the headline number:

• World-first 1,200V platform: The Xtreme uses a mass-produced full-domain 1,200-volt high-voltage architecture, a first for any production car, paired with silicon-carbide power electronics.
• e4 quad-motor system: Four motors — one per wheel — each spinning up to 30,000 rpm and producing 555 kW, for a combined 2,220 kW. Independent torque-vectoring adjusts power to each wheel more than 100 times per second.
• DiSus-X suspension: BYD’s intelligent body-control system gives each wheel independent vertical adjustment, keeping the car planted through Nürburgring’s 154 corners and Papenburg’s high-speed banking alike.
• 30C Blade Battery: A dual-layer-cooled, track-tuned version of BYD’s Blade Battery capable of a 30C discharge rate — enough to feed four 30,000-rpm motors without the pack overheating.
• Titanium-carbon-ceramic brakes: A braking system built to survive repeated stops from 300+ km/h without fade, rated to withstand up to 1,400°C.
• Bespoke 500 km/h-rated tyres: Co-developed with Giti, the GitiSport e-GTR2 Pro semi-slicks are China’s first tyres certified for sustained speeds near 500 km/h.
• Extreme exclusivity: Only 30 units will ever be built. One was sold for more than RMB 20 million (~$2.76 million) at the 2026 Beijing Auto Show, making it the most expensive BYD-built car ever.

Also Read: More EV Tech & Innovation Stories

What Is a Yangwang U9 Xtreme Electric Hypercar?

The Yangwang U9 Xtreme is the track-focused, record-chasing flagship of Yangwang — BYD’s ultra-luxury performance sub-brand, which also builds the U8 SUV and U7 sedan. It’s derived from the standard Yangwang U9, a two-seat electric supercar that launched in China in February 2024 at RMB 1.68 million (later raised to RMB 1.8 million, about $252,000).

Where the standard U9 is already startlingly quick — 0-100 km/h in 2.36 seconds and a 309 km/h top speed — the Xtreme dials everything up: more voltage, more motor power, aggressive aerodynamics (a carbon-fibre front splitter, gooseneck rear wing, and larger diffuser), aviation-grade aluminium suspension components, and aerospace-grade T700 carbon fibre in the body structure. In short, it’s what happens when BYD’s engineers are told to stop worrying about daily usability and just chase records.

Yangwang U9 Xtreme: Full Specifications

AutoAkhbar Verdict

The Yangwang U9 Xtreme matters for a reason bigger than one speed run: it’s proof that a heavy, battery-electric hypercar can hang with — and beat — the best gasoline engineering the world has ever built, at the exact game combustion cars were supposed to own forever. Only 30 people will ever own one, but the technology inside it — the 1,200V platform, the torque-vectoring, the 30C battery — is exactly the kind of thing that trickles down into BYD’s mainstream EVs within a few years. Whether BYD actually breaks 500 km/h this November remains to be seen, but betting against them at this point would be unwise.

Official Source: Check BYD’s official global newsroom for the latest Yangwang U9 Xtreme announcements.

FAQ

Stay tuned to AutoAkhbar for updates on the Yangwang U9 Xtreme’s 500 km/h record attempt in November 2026.