The YangWang U9 Xtreme beats the speed record: more than 500 km/h top speed

YangWang, the sports division of the automotive group BYD, has managed to surpass the 500 km/h top speed barrier for the first time in history. The final record of 503.17 km/h was achieved on a stretch of road (closed to traffic) in Abu Dhabi with the brand's test driver, the German Marc Besseng, behind the wheel of this electric supercar. It is certainly ironic that the world speed record has been achieved by a Chinese electric sports car in a country rich thanks to oil production. Things of modern geopolitics and new commercial, technological, and industrial alliances.

It is not the first time that the Chinese brand has tried to beat the 500 km/h mark, since just a few months ago the same YangWang U9 Xtreme reached 496.22 km/h, far exceeding the 490.41 km/h mark obtained by the most radical version of the Bugatti Chiron a couple of years ago.

This YangWang U9 Xtreme is a vehicle powered by four electric motors (one on each wheel) of 755 hp (or 555 kW, if you prefer), which achieves a total combined power of 2,220 kW, equivalent to 3,018 conventional hp, of which the Chinese brand has planned to manufacture about 30 units for the whole world, at a price yet to be determined. It is certain, however, that each of the 30 units of the car will far exceed a million or a million and a half euros, and yet the brand will have lost money in the design and manufacturing process of the car.

What the brand also has not explained is what range this sports car can reach in sports mode, nor which tires it used to set this record, which –it is worth insisting on this point– has no commercial and economic objective, since it has become a matter of reputation and status for the Chinese manufacturer and a show of strength.

A milestone for China

In fact, it escapes no one that this milestone has a clear propagandistic focus to demonstrate the technical capability of the automotive group BYD and its high-performance subsidiary YangWang, which has been able to reach performance levels that large European manufacturers like Ferrari, Porsche, or Bugatti have never been able to achieve with combustion engines. The mechanical and technical team even took a photograph displaying the flag of the People's Republic of China, in a clear gesture towards their country's government.

It is interesting to note that the BYD group, which includes subsidiaries like Denza or YangWang itself, is the main Chinese automotive group with private capital, that is, without shareholding participation from the administration of the People's Republic of China. At this point, it is also worth remembering that BYD is the world's leading producer of electrified vehicles (electric and plug-in hybrids) and the second-largest producer of batteries, only surpassed by the manufacturer CATL, a Chinese company but controlled directly by the government of the Asian giant through majority shareholding.

Finally, it is worth highlighting that BYD is also the world's leading manufacturer of new LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries, which are more economical and have a longer lifespan than conventional nickel, manganese, and cobalt ones. These new batteries have also reached Europe and are allowing the price of electric vehicles to be democratized through the containment of development costs, although surely the brand-new YangWang U9 Xtreme has not used any of these more economical batteries.