As of today, no unmodified production car has crossed the speed threshold of 500 km/h (310 mph). The infamous SSC Tuatara tried back in 2020 only to withdraw the claim after multiple accusations of faking the footage from the test. Koenigsegg has been mentioning a similar ambition since 2024, but its Jesko Absolut hypercar is still waiting for the required hardware, like extreme-duty tires. The way things are going, Chinese automaker BYD might as well make history with its Yangwang U9 Xtreme coupe.
Tested on the Papenburg Proving Grounds in Germany last September (see video), the all-electric coupe managed to attain a top acceleration of 496.22 km/h (308.34 mph). Although it was still technically a one-off at that moment, BYD reasons that it has 30 such cars in the production queue, so once they are out the record will be legitimate.
Compared to the regular Yangwang U9 – which is itself a supercar – the Xtreme has four motors sending 3,019 PS (2,978 hp / 2,220 kW) to the four wheels. The BYD engineering department claims that the car should already be good for a retry at the Papenburg, especially because the company has already managed to procure tires suitable for going 500 kilometers per hour. At these dangerous accelerations, tires become the main limiting factor for most modern hypercars.
The next attempt at the record is scheduled for the autumn.