Weeks after cracking 308 mph to take the production vehicle top speed record from the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, the Yangwang U9 Xtreme has proven that it’s also got superlative capability on one of the world’s most challenging circuits.
China’s preeminent electric hypercar just rounded the Nürburgring Nordschleife track in 6:59.157—five seconds quicker than the previous lap record for an electric vehicle, which was set by the Rimac Nevera in 2023. Notably, this is also the first time an EV has broken the 7-minute barrier in “Green Hell,” putting the U9 Xtreme in an exclusive club occupied by only a handful of other roadgoing supercars and hypercars. Watch the lap below:
The driver for the record lap was Moritz Kranz, an experienced German racer who has notched up almost 10,000 laps of the ultra-challenging Nordschleife circuit during his GT career. “The Nürburgring Nordschleife is the most demanding track, and our lap time is a testament to the development skills of BYD and Yangwang. Without their intense work to balance a high-powered EV platform with the difficult demands of the chassis set-up, this great lap time would not have been possible.”
To conquer the Nürburgring’s classic 13-mile circuit, the U9 Xtreme ran a soon-to-be available powertrain featuring a 1,200-volt system and four 744-horsepower motors, one per wheel. Total output adds up to a combined output of a truly ludicrous 2,976 hp. It also got a completely redesigned cooling system, a new titanium-alloy carbon-ceramic braking system, and GitiSport e·GTR Pro semi-slick tires, jointly developed with Giti.
The Yangwang U9 Xtreme is a more specialized version of the standard U9, a hypercar currently available in China with a 1,287-hp quad-motor configuration that’s good for a 60 mph time of 2.3 seconds. While a foreign nameplate in the states, Yangwang is a luxury brand under the umbrella of BYD, which has just surpassed Tesla in European EV sales for the second consecutive month. BYD has a vehicle that competes with just about other body style of EV on the global market, including the Volkswagen ID.3-rivaling BYD Dolphin, the Tesla Model 3-rivaling BYD Seal sedan, and even the BYD Shark, a plug-in hybrid pickup truck.
And that’s just the start. According to Inside EVs , BYD cracked $100 BILLION in sales in 2024 and operates a factory that is expected to grow to the size of San Francisco in Zhengzhou, China. As the author points out, the success is a “declaration of intent. BYD is proclaiming that it will be the global automotive powerhouse, and that the future of electrification could very well be shaped in the halls of its Zhengzhou factory.”