BYD has smashed a Chinese production car performance record as it aims to take the fight to high-output electric vehicles (EVs) from prestigious European manufacturers.
The U9, manufactured and sold by BYD’s luxury EV subsidiary Yangwang, achieved a top speed of 391.94km/h during testing at a closed oval circuit in Germany to set a new speed record for a Chinese car.
It smashed the previous 312.2km/h record set by the Nio EP9, but while the previous record holder wasn’t road legal and costs around A$4.6 million, the U9 can be registered in China and starts from 1.68 million yuan (A$357,962).
Yangwang is also targeting EVs like the Rimac Nevera (which has a top speed of 412km/h) and Porsche Taycan with the U9, and it took its hypercar to the Nürburgring to see how it would do against the benchmark performance models.
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The U9 was able to set a lap time of 7:17.900 around the 20.8km Nordschleife course; an impressive feat on its own, but especially promising against the Rimac and the Porsche.
Rimac’s Nevera managed a lap time of 7:05.298 in 2023, while the Taycan Turbo GT achieved 7:07.55 late last year, meaning Yangwang’s more affordable competitor was less than 15 seconds slower than both European EVs around the notoriously demanding Green Hell.
Onboard video of the U9’s fast lap uploaded to the Chinese Duoyin website shows there’s also room for improvement, with the driver seemingly holding back compared to what we saw in the video of the car’s top speed effort on November 7.
One hint at this is that the top speed it achieved on the Nürburgring’s 2.8km final straight was only 275km/h – though the driver was contending with direct oncoming sunlight.
It’s not known why the U9 wasn’t travelling flat-out but, despite the straight-line deficit, the car’s tyres can be heard screeching through most of the circuit’s turns.
Carscoops reports that BYD engineers had spent six months testing the U9 at the infamous German public road course experimenting with the car’s setup. It’s not clear whether BYD will return for another attempt.
Once BYD completes the necessary certification processes, the Yangwang U9’s lap time will be added to the official Nürburgring record list.
It’ll be placed between two petrol-powered Porsches on the list – the 911 Turbo S (7:17.3, set in 2021) and 911 GT2 RS (7:18, 2010) – and among good company from the likes of the BMW M4 and Nissan GT-R.
The Yangwang U9 is driven by a quad-motor all-wheel drive powertrain that outputs 960kW of power and 1680Nm of torque, powering it from 0-100km/h in a claimed 2.36 seconds.
It utilises an 80kWh Blade battery that makes it good for a claimed electric range of 450km on the CLTC testing cycle.
For comparison, the A$2.93 million quad-motor Rimac Nevera produces 1408kW and 2360Nm, while the Taycan Turbo GT is priced from $416,600 before on-road costs in Australia and produces 580kW/1240Nm from its dual-motor setup.
In terms of Chinese EVs, the U9 was around 30 seconds slower than the 1150kW Xiaomi SU7 Ultra prototype around the Nürburgring, given the electric sedan set a time of 6:46.87.
That time also smashes both the Nevera and the Taycan, though their positions on the official lap time list are safe as the SU7 Ultra was fitted with racing tyres, a roll cage, and large aerodynamic elements, none of which will feature on the production version.
The Nevera and Taycan were both in production guise on road-legal (albeit semi-click) tyres, and it’s understood the U9 employed a similar setup.
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