There’s no doubting the Yangwang U9’s performance bona fides now.
BYD’s electric supercar recently eclipsed 240 mph during testing earlier this month, according to CarScoops. That speed further solidifies the coupé’s position as the third fastest EV in the world.
Eyebrows were raised earlier this year when BYD announced that its luxury brand, Yangwang, was releasing its first supercar. Was there really room in a field dominated by the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, and McLaren for something new? Conventional thinking would say no, but the performance the company promised was something that couldn’t be ignored. And it turns out they actually may have undersold the vehicle and its quad-motor powertrain’s capabilities.
When the 1,300-hp U9 was first announced, Yangwang said it would top out at 192 mph, a more-than impressive speed that immediately made it one of the fastest EVs in the world. By the summer, this number had been upped by 41 mph to 233 mph after another round of testing. Now, just three months later, that figure has been raised again after the two-door reached 243.54 mph during a test run on 7 November. The August run made the U9 the third fastest EV in the world—behind only the Aspark Owl (which has a top speed of 273 mph) and the Rimac Nevera (258 mph), and comfortably ahead of the Pininfarina Battista (222 mph)—a position that has only been further strengthened.
As impressive as the U9’s 244 mph top speed may be, there is still room for improvement. The car was also recently taken to the Nürburgring motorsports complex for testing. It circled the famously punishing 12.9-mile Nordschleife loop track, “The Green Hell,” in 7:17.9 minutes. That time is respectable, especially for an EV, but it’s far behind that of another battery-powered super sedan, the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT, which lapped the same track in 7:07.55 earlier this year.
It’s even further behind that of another Chinese EV, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra prototype, which circled the track in 6:48:87 last month. That would be the new EV lap record, except the run wasn’t official (the mark currently belongs to the Nevera, which lapped the circuit in 7:05.30 last year). Xiaomi intends to make an official run at the record with a production version of the car next year.
