BYD's Yangwang U9 Xtreme hits 503.17 km/h on an Abu Dhabi road

A new production car speed mark

BYD's luxury brand Yangwang has pushed its U9 Xtreme hypercar to 503.17 km/h, beating its own record for production cars. The run took place on 1 November 2026 on a stretch of the Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed International Road (E11) in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi. German racing driver Marc Basseng was at the wheel. Reports say the speed surpassed the 496.22 km/h the same car reached in September 2025 at the ATP Papenburg test facility in Germany.

Recognition and how the record was set

Reports differ on the formal status of the mark. Europa Press and El Periódico say the run earned Guinness World Records entries, and El Periódico adds that the FIA also recognised the speed. Focus counts two Guinness entries, while BFMTV lists four titles, including fastest production car, fastest electric production car, and fastest road-legal tyre and EV tyre, developed with the Singaporean tyre maker Giti Tire. The Dutch outlet Telegraaf says the speed is not officially recognised yet, because the average of two runs in opposite directions must be taken to cancel out wind.

El Periódico reports the attempt did not succeed at first. Two passes on 31 October reached a best of 490 km/h, after which engineers adjusted the rear wing, suspension and tyre pressures overnight. The next day brought two more attempts, and the last of them passed 500 km/h. The crew also had to clear a 7 km straight of dust and small metal fragments that could damage tyres.

Power, production and a crash video

The U9 Xtreme uses four electric motors, one per wheel, which El Periódico says together deliver more than 3,000 hp. Focus gives a system output of 2,220 kW, or 3,018 PS, from motors that each reach 30,000 rpm, while BFMTV puts the output at 3,019 hp. The sources also differ on the standard U9's output, with Focus citing 1,306 PS and El Periódico citing 1,287 hp. BYD plans to build only 30 units worldwide, and some customers have already approved personalised specifications.

In the days before the Abu Dhabi run, BYD published a video of a record attempt that ended in a crash. Telegraaf reports the driver suffered only light injuries, while BFMTV says the driver walked away unhurt and that the Blade LFP battery did not catch fire. El Periódico also cites a 6 minutes and 59.157 seconds lap at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, which Yangwang presents as the lap record for an electric production car.

From 309 km/h to 500 km/h

The U9 project has moved quickly. According to Europa Press, the standard U9 reached 309 km/h at Wuhan Hannan airport in January 2024, and BFMTV says it reached 391.94 km/h in Germany in October 2024. The Xtreme version rose to 472.41 km/h in August 2025 and then to 496.22 km/h in September 2025 at Papenburg. Europa Press says the engineers reached the 500 km/h mark about three years after the U9 project began.

Stella Li, BYD's executive vice president, praised the engineering team and said the result pushes fully electric propulsion far beyond what rivals might imagine. The record series is charted below as the speeds reported by the sources for each run.

2024-01

309 km/h

2024-10

391.94 km/h

2025-08

472.41 km/h

2025-09

496.22 km/h

2026-11-01

503.17 km/h

Data from the article text