BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme: 503.17 km/h Near Abu Dhabi

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme: 503.17 km/h Near Abu Dhabi.

503.17 km/h near Abu Dhabi: The Yangwang U9 Xtreme reached this speed on 1 November. According to matching reports from DER SPIEGEL and Manager Magazin, the fully electric sports car from BYD became the world’s fastest production car.

This was not simply another high speed on a test track. Basseng drove the Yangwang U9 Xtreme at more than 500 kilometers per hour. The run earned the Chinese group two Guinness World Records: one for the fastest electric car in the world and another for the fastest production car of all time.

The Record Was Set on a Seven-Kilometer Straight

The exact location

The record run did not take place on a closed racetrack, but on the Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed International Road. The road is part of the E11 highway and is located in the Dhafra region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. A ten-kilometer-long section of road was closed for the attempt, including a seven-kilometer-long straight.

According to the Emirati newspaper “The National,” the regular speed limit on this stretch is 160. According to the FIA, the record attempt was carried out in cooperation with the local authorities and with the involvement of the automobile industry association. It lasted two days.

The preparations before the successful run

Initially, two runs took place on 31 October. The Yangwang U9 Xtreme reached a top speed of 490 km/h during them. That was still ten kilometers per hour below the 500 km/h mark.

The engineers then adjusted the aerodynamics, chassis tuning and tire pressure. Two more runs followed on 1 November. The second of these runs produced the new world record of 503.17 km/h.

A video on social media shows the car’s speed briefly exceeding 500 km/h after approximately two minutes. Basseng celebrates his success. He then brakes the vehicle to a stop within 30 seconds.

Marc Basseng Already Had His Own Record of 496.22 km/h

The driver

At the wheel was Marc Basseng, a German racing driver. He had already been involved in a relevant record himself: In September 2025, he also drove a Yangwang U9 to speeds of up to 496.22 km/h on a test site in Papenburg in Lower Saxony. The Abu Dhabi run surpassed this personal best by 6.95 km/h.

The comparison clearly illustrates the gap to the threshold. At 496.22 km/h, Basseng was still 3.78 km/h below the 500 km/h mark. In Abu Dhabi, the final speed was 503.17 km/h. The decisive record run therefore took place only after a previous top speed of 490 km/h and technical adjustments.

For the record statistics, this means: The Yangwang U9 Xtreme is the first mass-produced vehicle to exceed 500 km/h, reaching 503.17 km/h. At the same time, it was the fastest electric car in the world. The FIA confirmed the achievement; both cited reports used this information.

A Failed Attempt in China Was Only a Few Days Earlier

The crash in China

The success in Abu Dhabi was not the first attempt to reach the 500 km/h mark with the Yangwang U9 Xtreme. A few days earlier, an example of the model crashed into a guardrail on a racetrack in China.

The driver survived the accident uninjured and got out of the wreckage on his own. According to reports, the car was traveling at 420 to 450 km/h during the crash. This run was also intended to pursue the 500 km/h mark.

The comparison makes the achievement of the Abu Dhabi run even easier to understand. On the Chinese racetrack, the car was traveling at 420 to 450 km/h when it struck the guardrail. In the Emirati region of Dhafra, the same model reached 503.17 km/h after technical adjustments.

A video of the accident is said to have been uploaded by BYD itself on the Chinese platform Weibo. For the record’s history, this means: The Yangwang U9 Xtreme did not merely reach a milestone. It exceeded it by 3.17 km/h following the crash in China, an initial run at 490 km/h and targeted adjustments to the aerodynamics, chassis and tire pressure.

More Than 3,000 HP and a Nürburgring Lap Record

The powertrain

The Yangwang U9 Xtreme is a further development of the U9, which has been produced since 2024. According to the announcement to the FIA, it is powered by a further-developed version of the U9, which has been produced since 2024: four independent electric motors with a combined output of more than 3,000 horsepower.

The car also holds another record. On the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the Yangwang U9 Xtreme achieved a lap time of 6 minutes and 59.157 seconds. This is the fastest lap time for any electrically powered production car.

The Abu Dhabi run makes this a double record day: 503.17 km/h at top speed and 6:59.157 minutes on the Nordschleife. The Yangwang U9 Xtreme is therefore not only the fastest production car, but also holds the record for the world’s fastest electric production sedan.