This might be the most talked-about Chinese car right now – The Yangwang U9 Xtreme, fresh from its record-breaking tour, has made an appearance at Auto Guangzhou, letting us get up close and personal with BYD’s extraordinary electric supercar.
In case you were living under a rock for the past few months, the Xtreme is the more, well, extreme version of the U9. That car already possesses some impressive numbers, equipped with four motors that together produce 1,306 PS (960 kW) and 1,680 Nm of torque, getting it from zero to 100 km/h in 2.36 seconds on its way to a top speed of 300 km/h.
But with the Xtreme, BYD has thrown caution to the wind and built a no-holds-barred, no-expenses-spared speed monster. Each wheel is powered by a 1,200-volt electric motor that alone churns out 755 PS (555 kW), resulting in a scarcely-believable total system output of – are you sitting down? – 3,018 PS (2,220 kW).
These motors are not only hugely powerful but can also spin up to 30,000 rpm, enabling Nürburgring 24 Hours winner Marc Basseng to reach an astonishing top speed of 496.22 km/h at the Automotive Testing Papenburg (ATP) oval in Germany. As such, the Xtreme beats the previous EV top dog, the Rimac Nevera R (431.45 km/h), and even the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ (490.484 km/h) – and as those who watched the record-breaking video would have known, the car would’ve easily touched 500 km/h given enough room.
And that’s not all. The Xtreme also lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 6 minutes 59.147 seconds in the hands of another German racer Moritz Kranz – nearly six seconds quicker than the also-electric Xiaomi SU7 Ultra (as it very well should, given it has almost twice the power).
Although BYD is claiming production records for both, the company stretched the limits of acceptability for the top speed run by removing the rear wing and taping up the shutlines to reduce drag. For the record (pun not intended), land speed records generally specify a two-way average as a requirement, which is why the “true” (independently verified, if not recorded by an official body such as Guinness World Records) top speed production title still belongs to the SSC Tuatara at 455.3 km/h.
This takes nothing away from the Xtreme’s achievements, which come thanks to not just the upgraded motors but also the revised DiSus-X active suspension, now running at 1,000 volts to better stabilise pitch and roll. There are also carbon ceramic brakes with six-piston front callipers and custom GitiSport e.GTR2 Pro tyres that have been designed to hit 500 km/h.
No mention about the battery (which has likely been uprated to deliver more power to those hungry motors) nor a range figure (the current U9 can travel 450 km on the CLTC cycle using an 80 kWh Blade LFP battery).
On the outside, the Xtreme is set apart through a longer front splitter and 20-inch wheels that are an inch smaller than usual, wearing 325/35 R20 tyres all around (!). The massive swan-neck rear wing and active diffuser is retained, as is the cabin with its 10.25-inch instrument display and slim centre console with a 12.3-inch portrait infotainment touchscreen. The record-setting car on display features a full carbon fibre roll cage and several signatures to commemorate the successful attempts.
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