BYD and Yangwang know that simply becoming the fastest car on the planet is not the ball game. No, mastering a tricky, terrifying bit of track in the middle of a forest is the ultimate test, and it has done just that.
Welcome, then—for at least the next five minutes until Xiaomi’s SU7 wakes up—to the fastest production electric sports car around the Nürburgring. It’s your old friend, the Yangwang U9 Xtreme, that 496kph rocketship, which recorded a time of 6min and 59.157sec back in August along the 20.8km circuit.
It’s been rocketing around the Nürburgring since July 2024, feeding data into Yangwang’s mighty electric brain in order to shave five seconds off the previous record holder, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra at 7min and 04.957sec.
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Now, Xiaomi has in fact gone much, much faster—6min and 22sec—in a version of the SU7, but that one’s a prototype. So the U9 has taken the production-car record, because yes, it’s being sold in a limited run of no more than 30 cars.
Yangwang employed the services of one Moritz Kranz—a GT4, GT3, and LMP3 racer with more than 60 wins to his name—to deliver the lap, in an upgraded version of the U9. Apparently, this version gets a new cooling system, titanium-alloy carbon-ceramic brakes, and semi-slick tires.
Elsewhere, you’ll find the not-at-all-regular quad-motor, 2,919hp electric powertrain, and 1,200V really very high-voltage platform. Each motor, by the way, spins up to 30,000rpm. Imagine sticking an amp on one of those.
“The limited-edition U9 Xtreme has proven that it is not only the world's fastest car in a straight line, but also a vehicle with the performance and dynamic qualities necessary to break lap records on a circuit with a wide variety of corners,” said BYD vice president Stella Li.
Oh, and Yangwang has helpfully explained that the ‘Xtreme’ suffix is “derived from the English word ‘Extreme.’” Good clarification, that.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
