The Yangwang U9 Extreme smashes the speed record at the Nürburgring

The Yangwang U9 Extreme supercar from BYD was crowned last September as the fastest production vehicle on the planet, reaching 496.22 km/h at the ATP test track located in the German town of Papenburg. Now, this same model has also made its mark on the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit.

The supercar from the Chinese manufacturer managed to stop the clock on a flying lap in 6:59.157 minutes, thus beating the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, which last June became the fastest series-production electric vehicle on that same circuit, after completing a lap in 7:04.957, almost three seconds faster than the previous holder of the lap record, the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT with the Weissach package.

On the Nordschleife, German driver Moritz Kranz, who has extensive experience on this track, was able to get the most out of the Yangwang U9 Extreme, equipped with four electric motors -one for each wheel- which together deliver 2,220 kW of power.

“We aim to break technological barriers, and the Nürburgring is the ideal stage for our engineers to pursue their ambitions. The limited U9 Xtreme edition proves not only to be the fastest car on the straight, but also a benchmark in dynamics and performance through varied corners.”

Only for a lucky few

The Yangwang U9 Extreme, the most radical version of the supercar from the luxury brand BYD, is sold exclusively in China with a base price of 1.68 million yuan. That works out to roughly 200,000 euros at current exchange rates. Owning one does not depend, however, solely on having a fairly large budget, since BYD has limited its production to just 30 units.

Weighing almost 2.5 tonnes, this Chinese supercar stands out for having a 1,200-volt architecture, well above the norm and especially above what we are used to seeing in Europe. Its four electric motors, capable of spinning at 30,000 revolutions per minute, are powered by a Blade battery pack with LFP cells, which reaches an impressive 30C discharge rate. That is roughly ten times higher than any conventional electric vehicle.

The YangWang U9 Extreme also stands out for its one of the most advanced adaptive suspensions on the market, called DiSus-X. A true engineering masterpiece that goes beyond merely absorbing road irregularities, as it is even capable of making the vehicle jump up to 25 cm into the air and land without losing stability.

In short, an exceptional vehicle, whose only flaw is that it is within reach of only a few.