Chinese Electric Hypercar Conquers the Nürburgring: YANGWANG U9 Xtreme Breaks the Seven-Minute Barrier
The world of electric hypercars has a new monarch. The YANGWANG U9 Xtreme, flagship of BYD’s luxury division, has stormed the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a blistering lap time of 6 minutes and 59.157 seconds over 20.8 kilometres, becoming the first electric supercar to break the seven-minute wall.
When BYD announced in September that the U9 Xtreme had reached a top speed of 496.22 kilometres per hour on Germany’s Papenburg test track, it already seemed like proof of engineering ambition taken to its limit. Yet the brand’s appetite for records clearly wasn’t satisfied. By late August, the YANGWANG team was back on the Nordschleife, where the car sliced more than five seconds off its previous time. The record-breaking lap was driven by seasoned German racer Moritz Kranz, who has logged close to 10,000 laps around the Green Hell.
A New Benchmark in Electric Performance
The U9 Xtreme is built on the world’s first 1,200-volt ultra-high-voltage production platform and powered by four electric motors, each spinning up to 30,000 rpm. Together, they deliver over 3,000 horsepower, translating to an extraordinary 1,217 horsepower per tonne.
Supporting that power is YANGWANG’s e⁴ platform and the DiSus-X intelligent control system, which keeps the car seemingly glued to the tarmac through high-speed corners. For its Nürburgring run, engineers developed a dedicated cooling system, titanium-alloy carbon-ceramic brakes, and GitiSport e·GTR² PRO semi-slick tyres, created in partnership with Giti’s development team.
From Prototype to Production
Despite its experimental aura, the U9 Xtreme won’t remain a one-off laboratory marvel. Only 30 units will go into production, each a statement piece of electric performance engineering.
YANGWANG’s record lap is more than a headline. It’s a sharp reminder that the era of combustion dominance on the Nürburgring is drawing to a close — and the next generation of speed now hums rather than roars.
