Breaking barrier

Yangwang has added another headline to its young record book. The U9 Xtreme posted a 6:59.157 lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife that sets a new benchmark for electric super sports cars and becomes the first of its kind to dip below seven minutes on the 20.832-kilometer course.

The effort follows the car’s straight line run a month earlier, where it reached 496.22 km/h at ATP Papenburg. That top speed number grabbed attention. The Nürburgring lap shows the car can handle corners and elevation changes, too. Moritz Kranz, a German GT driver with close to 10,000 laps around the Nordschleife, was at the wheel. He credited the team’s work on balancing motor output with chassis tuning for the result.

Yangwang’s engineers have been testing at the Green Hell since July 2024. Track time gave the team the data to fine-tune the car’s software and hardware for both stability and pace. The U9 Xtreme runs on a mass-produced 1200-volt architecture and uses four high-speed electric motors. Each motor can spin up to 30,000 rpm. Combined output is listed at more than 3,000 PS, with a power-to-weight figure of 1,217 PS per ton. Those are big numbers for any car, and they come with an equally big demand on cooling and braking.

To cope with long full-throttle sections and heavy stops, the U9 Xtreme carries a redesigned cooling package and a titanium alloy carbon ceramic braking system. Rubber is a key part of any lap time, and this car rides on GitiSport eGTR2 PRO semi slicks that Giti developed with the team. Grip and heat management matter on the Nordschleife, and those tires were built for the task.

The chassis draws from the same e⁴ Platform as the standard U9 and uses the DiSus X intelligent body control system. The brand says it adapted its “body attitude control” for track use, which is a fancy way of saying the car can manage pitch and roll to keep the tires working. On a course that mixes fast sweepers, bumps, and tight corners, that control can be worth seconds.

BYD executive vice president Stella Li called the lap a natural target for a group that wants to push technology in tough environments. The Nürburgring has long been a proving ground. Breaking a class record there carries weight because the track demands a complete package. Straight line speed alone will not do it.

Production of the U9 Xtreme will be limited to 30 units. The name plays on the idea of going to the limit, with the X hinting at the unknown. It is a fitting theme for a car that keeps showing up in places where records are kept. The U9 Xtreme now holds a top speed claim and a class lap record, which puts it in rare company for an electric hypercar.

There will be debate about categories and timing protocols, as there always is with Nürburgring laps. What is not in doubt is the number on the stopwatch. A sub-seven-minute run for an electric super sports car marks a clear step forward. If Yangwang aimed to prove the U9 Xtreme is more than a straight line headline, this lap does that.