Yangwang U9 Xtreme hits 308mph, becomes world's fastest ever production car

It’s official: the Yangwang U9 Xtreme (formerly called the Track Edition) is now the fastest production car in the world, having hit 308.4mph at ATP Patenburg’s high speed oval in Germany.

Three hundred and eight miles per hour. Yep, a mere couple of weeks after smashing the electric production car top speed record, it’s now gone one better to become the fastest road-legal car – electric or otherwise – on the planet.

It dethrones the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, which managed 304.8mph in 2019, having already toppled the Aspark Owl (272.6mph) and Rimac Nevera R (268.2mph). We say toppled, it absolutely obliterated them.

It was again piloted by German race driver Marc Basseng, no stranger to speed records and seemingly a man with nerves of absolute steel. Last year he managed a personal best of 233mph in the ‘standard’ U9. Today, he’s one of a select few people to have made it into the 300mph club.

We now know a few more details about the car too. It gets 2,978bhp, over double the ‘regular’ car’s 1,288bhp, from four electric motors (which utilise the world’s thinnest super-silicon steel – 0.1mm – in mass production), each of which can spin at up to 30,000rpm.

It’s also the first production car with a 1,200V ultra high voltage platform, up from the existing U9’s 800V system, which allows for a quicker adrenaline shot of electricity through the platform and in turn, power to the motors.

Heat generation is also reduced by up to 67 per cent compared to the 800V platform at matching power outputs.

Combined with BYD’s fancy Blade Battery, the density of each cell is increased by 170 per cent compared with an 800V system, allowing discharge rates of up to 30 degrees Celsius – 10 times the rate of a conventional EV battery.

All very technical, but in other words it’ll sustain extremely high current outputs without exploding. Good news on a high speed run.

The eagle-eyed will have noticed the wheels too are smaller, 20in instead of 21s, while at the front it gets bigger 325mm width tyres, up from 275mm, to match the rears, and a smaller track.

Heck of a lot of pressure on those tyres at top speed, we’d imagine. And, of course, from the weight of the batteries. Total kerbweight stands at 2,480kg, just 5kg more than the regular car.

Just 30 are being made globally, with a likely significantly higher asking price than the £200k U9.

Next stop, the Buckeye Bullet 3’s 341.264mph electric land speed record?