- Speed 503.17 km/h on the E11 highway in Abu Dhabi
- The first production car over 500 km/h
- The record was recognized by the FIA and the Guinness Book
- Only 30 units, power almost 3 000 hp
A few weeks ago we wrote that the Yangwang U9 Xtreme wants to break the 500 km/h barrier in the Emirates and it was missing less than 4 km/h. Now it’s clear it succeeded, because the electric hypercar from BYD’s premium brand reached 503.17 km/h on a closed section of the highway in Abu Dhabi, becoming the first production car in history to break through this magical threshold.
Two days in the desert and 9 kilometers of full throttle
The attempt began on October 31 on a ten-kilometer stretch of the highway E11, which local authorities closed for it. The first two runs ended at around 490 km/h, so overnight engineers adjusted aerodynamics, the suspension, and tire pressure, and on November 1 the German racing driver and test rider Marc Basseng was again behind the wheel, continuing acceleration up to 503.17 km/h. At that speed, the car covers almost 140 meters per second.
According to the CarNewsChina portal, the entire run from launch to stop lasted about 9.2 km, with the final segment involving hard braking. Unlike previous attempts on closed test tracks, this time it was driven on a real road, so the car had to handle high temperatures, crosswinds, and desert sand.
FIA and Guinness, but with one catch
The FIA recognized the speed, and the Abu Dhabi team also received a certificate from the Guinness Book of Records. Compared to its own record from the German track Papenburg, where the U9 Xtreme in September 2025 reached 496.22 km/h, the car improved by almost 7 km/h.
The catch is that it’s a one-direction run. The official record for the fastest production car is traditionally calculated as an average of two runs in opposite directions to rule out the effects of wind and road slope, and by that rule it’s still held today by the American SSC Tuatara. Even Bugatti, however, only did its famous 490,48 km/h from 2019 in one direction, so in this discipline Yangwang now has the edge.
Almost 3 000 hp and only 30 units
The U9 Xtreme is the extreme version of the Yangwang U9 hypercar built on a 1200-volt platform. Four electric motors spinning up to 30,000 RPM together deliver 2,220 kW, i.e. almost 3,000 hp, and the torque-splitting system adjusts the pull of each wheel up to a hundred times per second. For driving above 500 km/h, the manufacturer modified tires, brakes, cooling, and body control, and the car also features a large carbon front spoiler, a diffuser, and a high rear wing.
The same car previously also set a record at the Nürburgring, where it completed the Northern Loop in 6:59,157 and, as the first production electric hypercar, it got under seven minutes. Yangwang will make a maximum of 30 units, so you’ll see it on the road rather exceptionally than commonly.
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