The 500km/h barrier is closer than ever to being broken, after the new holder of the world’s fastest production car title came agonisingly close to reaching the figure.
BYD’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme is the world’s fastest car in showrooms, hitting a top speed of 496.22km/h, dethroning the 490.48km/h Bugatti Chiron – and doing so in relative silence.
Powered by four 555kW electric motors, the U9 Xtreme produces almost 2220kW combined, enough to overcome its hefty kerb weight of 2480kg.
Having recently become the world’s fastest EV (with a top speed of 472.41km/h) when it was known as the Track Edition, BYD’s Yangwang returned to the ATP Automotive Testing Papenburg in Germany to set the new record.
The sheer speed of the U9 Xtreme can be seen when driver Marc Basseng – winner of the 2011 Bathurst 12 Hour – accelerates out of the banked corner, with 300km/h to 400km/h taking little more than 10 seconds.
Like the previous EV record run, Basseng had to bail out at high speed, with the U9 Xtreme drifting slightly to the left at more than 480km/h, coming close to the barrier before he backs out of the throttle at the 496.22km/h peak.
Had it not been for that moment, the U9 Xtreme was accelerating at such a rate that the 500km/h marker would’ve been eclipsed seconds later.
“This record was only possible because the U9 Xtreme simply has incredible performance,” Basseng said.
“Technically, something like this is not possible with a combustion engine. Thanks to the electric motor, the car is quiet, there are no load changes, and that allows me to focus even more on the track.”
On top of being the fastest car in the world in a straight line, the Yangwang U9 Xtreme is also the fastest EV around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, setting a time of six minutes and 59.157 seconds.
It completed the 20.832km lap almost six seconds faster than the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, and eight seconds quicker than the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT.
Just 30 examples of the Yangwang U9 Xtreme will be built, all running on a 1200-volt platform.
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