Not content with breaking the production car top speed record last year with its U9 XTreme, BYD brand Yangwang has had another go, and gone even faster.
During the run on Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed International Road in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Marc Basseng hit an astonishing 312.65mph, up from 308.33mph, pushing the car across the 500kmh barrier (503.16kmh) for the first time.
Along with bagging a Guinness World Record for the fastest production car (again), the U9 automatically bags the fastest electric production car title. And so, if Koenigsegg manages to beat 312mph with its Jesko Absolute, Yangwang will still keep one of its gongs.
About six miles of road was closed for the runs, and the surface had to be swept before the U9X’s attempt due to its desert location and use by normal traffic, which could mean fluids or debris left on the asphalt – neither of these would be very helpful when trying to do over 300mph.
There were a couple of runs on 31 October which didn’t quite break the 500kmh barrier (the highest speed was 490kmh, or 304mph), with one of two runs on 1 November yielding the magic figure after several alterations to the U9X. The software for the adaptive dampers was tweaked to increase rebound damping, helping the car better cope with the undulations of the road, while the rear wing angle was adjusted for more downforce.
The Yangwang’s performance comes from four electric motors producing nearly 3,000rpm when combined. It’s able to do 0-62mph in just 2.36 seconds, and production is limited to just 30 units.
Around the same time as the record-breaking efforts were happening, a video emerged of the U9X losing control and suffering a huge crash during high-speed testing in China. According to local media reports, the driver was unharmed.
Although it’s not clear if the Yangwang U9 will be sold in the UK, it has been confirmed that the brand is coming here in some capacity. Yangwang also makes the U8 SUV, and although it can’t do 300mph, it can turn on the spot like a tank.