BYD, under its luxury division, Yangwang, has taken the hypercar scene by storm with the U9, the U9 Xtreme in particular. Records once dominated by Europe and America—with screaming engines and forced induction—are now being rewritten by China’s silent electric motors.
Fresh off the Nürburgring—better known as the ‘Green Hell’—the U9 Xtreme just set a blistering EV lap record with Moritz Krantz behind the wheel, clocking in at 6 minutes and 59 seconds. That’s quicker than the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra and even the Rimac Nevera. Yet, the ultimate production car crown remains just out of reach for the Shenzhen outfit.
Powering the U9X are a set of electric motors on all four corners, each capable of 30,000 rpm, giving the U9 Xtreme nearly 3,000 horsepower and a monstrous power-to-weight ratio of 1,200 hp per tonne.
Though power-to-weight is a crucial aspect of performance cars, especially for lap times, BYD has obsessed over every detail to ensure the U9X can perform to the best of its ability. Which is exactly why BYD went and teamed up with Giti to develop the GitiSport e·GTR² PRO semi-slick tires, the same tires that enabled the U9 Xtreme to reach its insane 496 km/h speed record.
But as it stands, the U9X has yet to break the production record at the monstrous 20-km track, with the top time on the production leaderboard being held by the Mercedes-AMG One, with a lap time of 6 minutes and 29 seconds.
Sure, the production car lap record remains just out of reach for now—but with what BYD’s learned today, you can bet they’ll be back, gunning for it even harder. If history’s shown us anything, it’s that records are made to be broken—and BYD’s not about to let this one get away for long.
Will BYD be able to take the lap time crown on their next outing? As of right now, it’s hard to say. But if the U9 Xtreme can perform at the level we’ve just seen—and with what the team has learned from this outing—it wouldn’t be a surprise if BYD comes back for round two with a new and revamped U9. Or possibly even better, a totally new hypercar using what’s been learned from this current record-breaker.
