YANGWANG, the luxury brand of the world's largest manufacturer of new-energy vehicles BYD, has conquered its own global speed record and taken automotive technology into a new realm altogether by surpassing 500km/h (more than 312mph) with its U9 Xtreme hypercar

The record-breaking run took place on Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed International Road (E11), in Abu Dhabi's Al Dhafra Region, on November 1, 2026. Marc Basseng, the sports-car and endurance racer who guided the U9X to its previous production-car record at ATP Papenburg last September, was again behind the wheel.

This new threshold is one that has been pursued by the automotive industry for a century, but which has proven impossible to overcome using conventional combustion powertrains. By harnessing the power of BYD's all-electric motor and battery technologies, the YANGWANG engineers have been able to take production cars into the '500+' era in just three years since the start of the U9 project.

Stella Li, BYD executive vice-president, said: "I always tell people that our engineers are young, bold and maybe a little crazy - but in a good way! And again, we must congratulate them and the whole YANGWANG U9X team for an incredible next step and these astonishing records.

"Even as the team celebrated the astonishing 496.22km/h (308.22mph) in Germany last year, they were looking through the data and discussing how to take U9X to its next level. 503.17km/h (312.65mph) is a fantastic achievement, and it moves the benchmark for pure electric power even further ahead of where others might dream."

The regular U9 hypercar set its first benchmark back in January 2024, reaching 309km/h (192mph) at Wuhan Hannan Airport in China, and by October the same year it reached 391.94km/h at ATP Papenburg proving ground in Germany.

The U9X made its first appearance at the same facility in August 2025, reaching a top speed of 472.41km/h (293.54mph), before returning a month later to set a new world production-car speed record of 496.22km/h (308.33mph).

The latest achievement builds on the U9X's existing record time around the Nordschleife in Germany. Its 6m 59.157s benchmark at the legendary circuit is the lap record for production electric vehicles, yet it was achieved with the same specification of car that also set the outright top-speed record - proving the U9X's all-round abilities as a hypercar.