496 km/h and Three Thousand Horses: China’s Yangwang U9X Blasts to the Top of the Hypercar World
For decades, Europe held the crown in the hypercar game. Now China has slammed its card on the table—and it is nothing short of outrageous. The Yangwang U9 Extreme, better known as U9X, has rewritten the record books with a 496 km/h top speed and a Nürburgring lap time that humiliated its closest rivals.
BYD’s luxury sub-brand Yangwang has unveiled footage of its new electric hypercar, the U9 Extreme, obliterating benchmarks. The record-setting run took place at Germany’s Automotive Testing Papenburg proving ground, the same high-speed oval where Rimac’s EV monsters chase their numbers. The figure is staggering: 496.22 km/h, verified on the straights.
The technical leap is just as dramatic. The U9X carries four electric motors, each now rated at 555 kW—more than double the output of the earlier 240 kW units. Together they deliver a combined 3,019 horsepower, enough to make this machine more than a spec-sheet wonder. It is engineered to handle its fury on real circuits.
To harness such output, engineers fitted a bespoke-cooled battery pack and shod the car with GitiSport e·GTR2 Pro semi-slicks, tyres designed to withstand speeds of up to 500 km/h. This hardware ensures that the colossal numbers translate to asphalt without compromise.
And if sheer top speed wasn’t enough, Yangwang added another headline: the U9X lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 6 minutes 59.157 seconds. That mark not only broke the seven-minute barrier but also edged out Xiaomi’s SU7 Ultra, which clocked 7 minutes 4.957 seconds.
Production will be limited to just 30 units worldwide. Pricing has not been disclosed, but given that the “standard” U9 in China starts at 1.68 million yuan—around €200,000—the U9X will command a figure in the stratosphere.
