6m 59s: the Yangwang U9 Xtreme is the fastest (production) electric sportscar around the Nürburgring

Yangwang knows simply becoming the fastest car on the planet is not the ball game. No, mastering a tricky, terrifying bit of tarmac in the middle of a forest is the ultimate test, and it has done just that.

Welcome then – for at least the next five minutes until Xiaomi’s SU7 wakes up – to the fastest production electric sports car around the Nürburgring. It’s your old friend the Yangwang U9 Xtreme, that 308mph rocketship, which recorded a time of 6m 59.157s back in August along the 20.8km circuit.

It’s been rocketing around the Nürburgring since July 2024, feeding data into Yangwang’s mighty electric brain in order to shave five seconds off the previous record holder, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra (7m 04.957s).

Now, Xiaomi has in fact gone much, much faster – 6m 22s – in a version of the SU7, but that one's a prototype. So the U9 has taken the production-car record, because yes, it’s being sold in a limited run of no more than 30 cars.

Yangwang employed the services of one Moritz Kranz – a GT4, GT3, and LMP3 racer with more than 60 wins to his name – to deliver the lap, in an upgraded version of the U9. Apparently this version gets a new cooling system, titanium-alloy carbon-ceramic brakes, and semi-slick tyres.

Elsewhere you’ll find the not-at-all-regular quad-motor, 2,959bhp electric powertrain and 1,200V really very high-voltage platform. Each motor, by the way, spins up to 30,000rpm. Imagine sticking an amp on one of those.

“The limited-edition U9 Xtreme has proven that it is not only the world's fastest car in a straight line, but also a vehicle with the performance and dynamic qualities necessary to break lap records on a circuit with a wide variety of corners,” said BYD vice president Stella Li.

Oh, and Yangwang has helpfully explained the ‘Xtreme’ suffix is “derived from the English word ‘Extreme’". Good clarification, that.