Chinese automaker BYD has just set a new top speed record for production electric vehicles with its Yangwang U9 Track Edition hypercar. The car managed to achieve 294 miles per hour at the ATP testing tracking Germany on August 8, 2025. This achievement eclipses the previous record holder, the Rimac Nevera R, which reached 268.2 mph back in July of this year, by a large margin. How’d it do it? Overwhelming power.
The U9 Track Edition features quad motors. Each motor is capable of producing approximately 744 horsepower, and when they come together, the total system power output is just silly – 3,019 horsepower. The U9 Track Edition also has a number of other enhancements that make it safer to drive at such extreme speeds, but otherwise, you can buy this car in China in the morning and reach ridiculous velocities by afternoon.
How The U9 Track Edition Nearly Hit 300 MPH
Yangwang says the U9 Track Edition uses the same platform and technical architecture as the standard U9, but upgrades have been made. For one, it features the world’s first mass-produced 1,200-volt vehicle platform, which is an insane amount of electrical force. It also has an upgraded thermal management system, a necessity for electrical hardware operating in such extreme conditions.
The U9 Track Edition also uses its four electric motors as a torque-vectoring system to keep the car ultra-stable at high speeds. While the car’s aerodynamics are roughly the same as a standard U9, the Track Edition does use an optional carbon fiber front splitter. Otherwise, the car looks fairly tame considering what it’s capable of. And lastly, the tires are a special semi-slick variety with a bespoke tread design that were made in collaboration with tire maker Giti Tire.
While BYD and Yangwang absolutely smashed the top speed record for production electric vehicles, they missed the mark for surpassing the overall top speed record for a production car, which was set by a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ that went nearly 305 mph in 2019. The U9 Track Edition is also not the fastest electric car overall, technically. That spot goes to the Venturi Buckeye Bullet 3, a one-off, purpose-built land speed record car that achieved 342 mph in 2016. That said, the U9 Track Edition isn’t far off from either of those feats, and this was only its first attempt.
TopSpeed’s Take
Top speed records are a fairly useless exercise. They require extremely controlled conditions and, even for production cars, a bevy of specialized components. Plus, owners of these hypercars hardly ever approach their terminal velocity. In truth, hypercars are rarely driven at all since most buyers use them as investments. All that said, we love a good top-speed challenge.
Automakers gunning for the title of World’s Fastest Production Car bring us back to the late ’80s and early ’90s when supercars were just beginning to crest the 200-mph mark. Cars such as the Lamborghini Diablo, Ferrari F40, Jaguar XJ220, and Bugatti EB110 were the ultimate expressions of speed back then. Those speeds seem quaint now, and they are easily achievable today in the used car market for around $75,000 with something like a C6 Corvette ZR-1 or Aston Martin V12 Vanquish.
Back then, we couldn’t imagine that 300 mph for a production car was in our future, let alone it being an electric car from a Chinese automaker. Times have surely changed, and EVs have democratized horsepower to an absurd degree. It’s only a matter of time before that Bugatti’s overall top speed record for a production car falls, and we may have just seen a preview of which car will do it.
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