China’s BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme Hypercar Breaks 7-Minute Barrier at the ‘Ring, Sets New EV Record

A Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time has long been one of the top benchmarks for production car performance. Whether it’s still the automotive trophy it once was is certainly up for debate, but regardless, a new frontier of Green Hell lap time records has opened up in recent years thanks to the arrival of high-performance EVs—and Chinese manufacturers are speeding away with the market.

Back in June, we reported on the eye-popping ‘Ring lap record set by the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra sedan that clocked a 7:04; now, BYD has sent its super sport coupe to turn up the competition. Thanks to its Yangwang U9 Xtreme hypecar, BYD now holds the fastest production electric sports car record at the Nürburgring, with a lap time of 6:59.157.

The Yangwang U9 Xtreme is a known quantity, as it nabbed the straight-line top speed record for production electric vehicles this September at a blistering speed of 304.5 mph. With 2958 horsepower from a 80-kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, the Chinese-produced hypercar is a stunning feat of mechanical engineering, so it’s no real surprise that BYD was able to secure this accomplishment.

But getting there wasn’t as easy as the on-paper horsepower figure would make you think. BYD says it redesigned the cooling system, added a carbon-ceramic braking system, and fitted GitiSport semi-slick tires to ensure the Yangwang U9 Xtreme would hold up over the 12.94-mile track. Specific tuning for the DiSus-X intelligent body-control system—akin to Porsche’s hydraulic body control system on the Panamera and Taycan—was also applied for the lap record.

On-board video of the record breaking lap shows German racing driver Moritz Kranz, who has clocked over 10,000 laps on the Nordschleife during his GT3 and LMP3 racing career, managing a supremely fast but relatively planted car during his lap record run.

“The Nürburgring Nordschleife is the most demanding track, and our lap time is a testament to the development skills of BYD and Tangwang. Without their intense work to balance a high-powered EV platform with the difficult demands of the chassis set-up, this great lap time would not have been possible,” Kranz said.

It is worth noting that the Yangwang U9 Xtreme’s lap record put its in the company of the Lamborghini Aventador SV, which ran a 6:59.17 in 2015, and non-RS models of thePorsche 911 GT3, which ran a 6:59 in 2022. Both of those cars offer significantly less than 2958 hp, with the GT3 serving up 502 hp from its naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six. That’s not to diminish the fine tuning work required to get the Yangwang U9, which is no doubt heavier and less well-balanced than a 992-generation GT3, to its lap record, but it’s worth raising the question of just how much its time really does depend on its insane power.

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