At the Beijing Auto Show 2026, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu personally handed over the keys to the first Yangwang U9 Xtreme to a customer. This marked the initial commercial delivery of the model, which the company claims is the world's fastest.

The buyer is Greek-Australian billionaire Nick Politis, chairman of the Sydney Roosters rugby league club. This vehicle is also the only one allocated to the Australian market. The transaction value exceeded 20 million yuan (approximately 2.9 million USD), making it the most expensive vehicle at this year's exhibition and the highest-priced product BYD has ever produced.

The U9 Xtreme is limited to 30 units globally, all in left-hand drive configuration, with each market receiving a maximum of one vehicle. Politis stated that the car would primarily serve as a promotional tool for BYD dealerships in Australia, given the country's strict registration rules for left-hand drive vehicles.

The Yangwang U9 Xtreme at the exhibition. Photo: Globalchinaev

The Xtreme version's price is about 11 times higher than the standard Yangwang U9 (264,000 USD), positioning the model among expensive hypercars. It directly competes with brands like Bugatti and Pagani, a segment rarely associated with the BYD brand previously.

A key differentiator of the Xtreme version lies in its performance specifications. BYD announced this high-performance variant on 14/9/2025, along with two notable records. At Germany's Papenburg test track, driver Marc Basseng achieved a top speed of 496,22 km/h, surpassing all previously produced commercial vehicles, regardless of whether they were electric or internal combustion.

Earlier, on 22/8/2025, racer Moritz Kranz completed the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in 6 minutes 59,157 seconds. This made the U9 Xtreme the first commercial electric vehicle to break the 7-minute barrier. This achievement was over 5 seconds faster than the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, placing a Chinese electric vehicle at the top of the leaderboard on this legendary race track.

The U9 Xtreme uses a four-motor e4 (Yi Sifang) electric drive system. Each motor produces 555 kW of power and a rotational speed of 30,000 rpm, delivering a total output of 2,220 kW (approximately 3,000 horsepower). The vehicle operates on a 1,200V electrical platform using silicon carbide materials combined with LFP batteries, a first for mass-produced cars, according to BYD.

A titanium alloy carbon-ceramic braking system handles deceleration, while the DiSus-X active suspension system can adjust force for each wheel with up to 9 kW of power and a response speed of 500 mm per second.

The large rear wing on the Yangwang U9 Xtreme. Photo: Globalchinaev

At the exhibition, the car appeared in a black and gold color scheme with a large rear wing. It debuted alongside two other Yangwang models: the four-seat U8L SUV and the new U7 sedan. Giti supplied the tires for the top speed test, and Top Gear honored this record as "Moment of the Year", a significant milestone for a Chinese brand.

For BYD, the U9 Xtreme is not aimed at sales targets but serves as a symbol of technology, bringing the Yangwang brand closer to European hypercar manufacturers. It remains unclear whether the remaining 29 customers will be publicly revealed or receive their vehicles discreetly in the near future.

Ho Tan (according to Global China EV)