BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme claims world's fastest production electric car with 308.4 mph run

BYD has claimed the world’s fastest production car title for its electric Yangwang U9 Xtreme, unveiling a 308.4 mph run at the Automotive Testing Papenburg oval in Germany. Test driver Marc Basseng Formula One-tested endurance racer achieved the speed in one direction, while BYD emphasized that the official production-car record is calculated as the average of runs in both directions.

The U9 Xtreme is an upgraded version of BYD’s U9 hypercar and is limited to 30 units globally. The price for the ultra-rare model has not been disclosed; the standard U9 is listed around £200,000, and industry observers expect the Xtreme to command a substantially higher tag. BYD beat the previous production-car speed record held by the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, which reached 304.1 mph. The moment was livestreamed from China, and BYD billed the run as a milestone for sustainable hypercars.

The U9 Xtreme rides on BYD’s 1200V ultra-high voltage platform and features an optimized thermal management system and a re-engineered cooling circuit to support a 133 per cent increase in total power output. Four motors, each delivering 555 kW, collectively produce 2,958.96 bhp, while the car relies on BYD’s Blade Battery, a hallmark of the company’s electric-vehicle technology. The U9 Xtreme represents BYD’s flagship premium NEV (new-energy vehicle) push under the Yangwang brand, which was launched in November 2022.

The record was set at ATP Papenburg with Basseng at the wheel. Basseng has a long history in sports-car racing and endurance motorsport. He said the record was possible because the U9 Xtreme offers “incredible performance,” noting that such figures are not achievable with combustion engines. “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,” he said.

Yangwang characterized the U9 Xtreme’s performance as a modern milestone in engineering and a new standard in electric mobility, blending unrivaled power and speed with zero emissions. The company noted that the U9 Xtreme’s track record adds momentum to a growing field of electric hypercars challenging traditional performance benchmarks. While the fastest production-car record is typically factored from the average of runs in both directions, the U9 Xtreme achieved its 308-plus mph figure in a single direction on the day. Bugatti’s prior record was also achieved in a single-direction run, which the industry has historically treated as a comparable benchmark, given the practice of averaging two directional runs in official listings.

Last year Basseng set a personal best of 233 mph in the standard U9, before joining the 300-mph elite in the Xtreme version earlier this month. Whether future electric hypercars will surpass the U9 Xtreme remains an open question, but the current results mark a high-water mark for production EV speed. As automakers continue to pursue ever-faster, more efficient electric propulsion, the U9 Xtreme stands as a concrete demonstration of how far high-performance EVs have progressed—and a reminder that the line between production cars and bespoke hypercars continues to blur.