Chinese EV maker BYD’s YangWang U9 Xtreme hypercar has absolutely obliterated the top speed record for a production car.
The sleek vehicle reached a white-knuckled 308.4 mph at the ATP Papenburg oval track in Germany, as Car and Driver reports, blowing past the previous record of 304.8 mph, which was set by the Bugatti Chiron in 2019.
That means the U9 isn’t just the fastest EV ever — it’s the fastest of any production vehicle, in terms of top speed.
The U9 Xtreme features a next-gen 1,200-volt powertrain and four different motors, giving it an output of just shy of 3,000 horsepower.
A promotional video shows the vehicle in action, ripping around the curved banks of the track at ludicrous speeds. Then, on a long straightaway, the driver floors it, reaching a speed of just shy of 500 km/h (310.6 mph).
That’s a whole lot faster than BYD competitor Tesla’s fastest vehicle, the Model S Plaid, which achieved its record top speed of just 216 mph back in 2022.
It’s also yet another testament to the major edge electric cars have gained over their gas-powered competitors, especially when it comes to performance.
“Leck mich am Arsch!” the daredevil driver of BYD’s hypercar can be heard screaming into the mic, a profanity-laden expression that, without going into anatomical specifics, denotes unbridled excitement.
Just last month, BYD claimed it had set a new top speed record of 293.5 mph with its Yangwang U9 Track Edition. Given its latest attempt, the EV maker wasn’t quite happy with the result.
Thanks to a 1,200-volt system architecture, the car’s drivetrain needs copious amounts of power on tap. The company came up with a “blade battery” design, which increases the density of each battery cell by 170 percent to allow for ten times the discharge rate of a conventional EV battery, according to Top Gear.
Unsurprisingly, getting your hands on a U9 Xtreme won’t be easy. The company has said it will only make 30 of them.
But at just approximately $151,000, it’s an absolute bargain. The price of the previous record holder, Bugatti’s mid-engine Chiron sports car, hovers around $3 million these days, or roughly 20 times the U9 Xtreme’s price.
Earlier this year, Tesla’s senior vice president of powertrain, Lars Moravy, revealed that the carmaker is “gearing up for a super cool demo“ of the company’s long-awaited next-generation Roadster.
Given what BYD just pulled off, the ball is certainly in Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s court.
More on fast cars: Tesla’s Teasing Some Kind of Incredible Reveal, But We’re Skeptical