BYD’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme is the first production car to pass 500 km/h

The fastest production car in the world is now a battery-powered one from China. BYD’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme reached 503.17 km/h (312.66 mph) on a closed highway in Abu Dhabi, the first time a production car has gone beyond 500 km/h, and the FIA has recognised the result.

The run needed two days. Abu Dhabi closed a 10 km section of the E11 road in its Al Dhafra region, which left a 7 km straight. On 31 October German racing driver Marc Basseng topped out at 490 km/h; the team then reworked the aerodynamics, suspension settings and tyre pressures, and his second run on 1 November produced the record, the FIA says. The U9 has been chasing its own numbers rather than a rival’s for almost three years:

Under the livery are four electric motors with more than 3,000 PS between them, a 1,200-volt electrical system, torque vectoring, active suspension and tyres developed with Giti Tire. The same car already holds the lap record for production EVs on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, at 6:59.157.

There is an asterisk. BYD talks about four Guinness World Records, but the FIA lists two for this attempt, fastest production car and fastest electric production car, and both are for a run in one direction. Production-car records have traditionally averaged two runs in opposite directions to cancel out wind and slope, as Electrek points out; Bugatti’s one-way 490 km/h in a Chiron in 2019 was not treated as an official record by Bugatti itself. Electrek also notes that only 30 U9 Xtreme cars are planned, at around $3 million each, and it is not clear whether buyers get the record car’s tyres.

Reported by BYD on X, FIA, Electrek. Compiled with AI tools.