Hold onto your hats: the 2,978bhp Yangwang U9 Xtreme just hit 312.65mph*

There are quick EVs, fast ones, and then there's whatever you wanna call this Yangwang U9 Xtreme. BYD's mad, four-motor hypercar has just recorded a claimed 503.17km/h (312.65mph), becoming the first production car to break through the 500km/h barrier.

The run took place on a closed section of the Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed International Road (E11) in Abu Dhabi on 1 November. A 10km stretch of road was shut down for the attempt, including a 7km straight used for the top-speed run.

Two runs on the previous day peaked at 490km/h (304mph), but a bit of tinkering, tweaking and tyre-kicking from Yangwang's engineers overnight led to the magic 500km/h+ figure the following day.

The record-breaking U9 Xtreme was a heavily modified version of the standard 1,252bhp U9, with four upgraded electric motors producing 2,978bhp and a staggering 1,200bhp-per-tonne power-to-weight ratio.

Behind the wheel of said monster was endurance racer Marc Basseng - a man of solid constitution, clearly - who also piloted the U9 Xtreme during its previous record run in Germany where it reached 496.22km/h (308.33mph).

Yangwang says the run secured two Guinness World Records: the highest speed achieved by a production car in a single-direction run, and the highest speed achieved by an electric production car in a single-direction run.

The important wording there is single-direction run. That adds a degree of controversy to the record, because a bidirectional run is often used in speed record attempts to eliminate any environmental and physical variables that may artificially inflate a one-way speed, such as wind, road gradient and surface conditions.

Bugatti faced similar criticism after the Chiron's 304mph run, and it also means the SSC Tuatara retains the recognised two-way production-car speed record, hitting an average speed of 282.9mph.

Still, whether you consider it the definitive production-car benchmark or not, there's no arguing with one thing: 312.65mph is absurdly fast.