On 1 November 2026, a Yangwang U9 Xtreme hit 503.17 km/h on a closed section of the E11 in Al Dhafra, Abu Dhabi. The China price is over 20 million yuan (AED 10.94 million). No official UAE price exists yet. Here is everything Bugatti, Rimac and Ferrari owners need to know.
On 1 November 2026, a ten-kilometre stretch of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed International Road - the E11 in Al Dhafra, Abu Dhabi - was swept clean of sand and closed to traffic. With the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), DCT Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Mobility (the Integrated Transport Centre) all signing off on the closure, German racing driver Marc Basseng strapped into a Yangwang U9 Xtreme and ran 503.17 km/h (312.66 mph). The world's fastest production car record now belongs to a Chinese electric hypercar, and it was set right here in the UAE.
If you are shopping the Yangwang U9 Xtreme and want the price first: in China it is listed at over 20 million yuan, which CnEVPost puts at USD 2.98 million, or AED 10.94 million at the UAE's fixed 3.6725 dirham peg. As of 7 November 2026, there is no official UAE price and no open order book. Al-Futtaim Electric Mobility, which retails Yangwang in the UAE, has indicated that pre-bookings are expected soon. Only 30 units will be built worldwide. Prices accurate as of November 2026.
For owners of a Bugatti Chiron, Rimac Nevera or Ferrari SF90 parked in Dubai right now, the question is not academic. A car built in Shenzhen just out-accelerated everything on a straight line of Emirati tarmac. So does it matter, what did it actually do, and can you buy one? Let's go through it properly.
The record run on 1 November 2026 was not Yangwang's first attempt that week. On 31 October, Basseng made two passes on the same E11 corridor and reached 490 km/h (304 mph) on each. The team worked through the night: they adjusted the rear wing angle, recalibrated rebound damping, modified tyre pressures and optimised battery and motor temperatures. The next morning, Basseng made his record pass. Of the ten-kilometre closed section, roughly seven kilometres were usable for the run. The measured peak was 503.17 km/h.
The backdrop matters for UAE readers. This was not a purpose-built oval in Germany or a closed Nevada highway. It was an Abu Dhabi road - the same kind of straight, flat infrastructure you use to drive between Abu Dhabi and the Saudi border. The conditions are almost ideal: sea-level air density, billiard-flat tarmac, no gradient. The E11 in Al Dhafra gave Yangwang something Papenburg's ATP track or Ehra-Lessien could also provide, but the choice to run in the UAE was deliberate. Yangwang showed the U9 Xtreme at its 'Celebration of Speed' event in Downtown Dubai on 6 November 2026, the day after the Guinness certificates were signed.
AED 3,999,999
AED 1,795,000
Guinness World Records awarded the U9 Xtreme two titles: highest speed achieved by a production car, and highest speed by an electric production car. Both certificates carry the qualifier 'in a single-direction run'. The FIA recognised the speed, though the precise nature of its timing involvement has not been confirmed by official documentation as of this writing. What is clear is that no return run was made. Traditional land speed records - including the benchmark set by the Koenigsegg Agera RS on a Nevada public road in 2017 - average two passes in opposite directions to cancel out wind advantage. Yangwang's 503.17 km/h is a one-way figure.
That does not make it meaningless. The Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+'s 490.48 km/h was also a one-way run. The SSC Tuatara's 474.8 km/h one-way in 2022 was the same. So the comparison is consistent within that peer group. The U9 Xtreme is, by the same methodology used by the cars it has beaten, the fastest. Fans of two-way records can still point to the Agera RS's 447.19 km/h (277.87 mph) two-way average as the benchmark that most closely mirrors a 'fair' test, and the Tuatara's two-way average of 455 km/h (282.9 mph) from 2021 as the highest confirmed two-way figure. The U9 Xtreme has not chased either.
On 2 November 2026, BYD released footage of a U9 Xtreme crash that occurred during testing on a closed track in China. BYD gave no date and no location for the incident. The car was travelling at high speed during what reports described as an attempt to exceed 450 km/h on that run. The vehicle was destroyed from the bodywork outward, but its carbon monocoque survived intact. The driver walked away unharmed after hospital checks. BYD has not published the speed at which the crash occurred, and no independently verified figure exists. Do not conflate this crash with the Abu Dhabi record run - they are separate events.
Here is how the U9 Xtreme's record stacks up against the hypercars most likely to be sitting in UAE garages right now. The Bugatti Chiron Super Sport achieved 490.48 km/h in 2019, also in a one-way run. The standard Bugatti Chiron produces 1,500 PS and 1,600 Nm but is electronically limited to 420 km/h in road trim; the Super Sport 300+ was a de-limited prototype run. The Rimac Nevera set 412 km/h (256 mph) at the ATP Papenburg circuit in 2022. The Ferrari SF90 Stradale has a quoted top speed of 340 km/h and 1,000 PS - it was never designed to chase absolute top speed.
One earlier Yangwang milestone is worth noting for context: the standard U9 reached 391.94 km/h at Papenburg in October 2024. The U9 Xtreme then ran 496.22 km/h at Papenburg in September 2025 before coming to Abu Dhabi to push past 500 km/h. Lamborghini, like Ferrari, has publicly stated it no longer targets outright top-speed records - which makes the absence of an Italian contender in this list a strategic choice, not a technical one. If you are browsing Lamborghini listings for a Revuelto, that context is relevant.
The U9 Xtreme runs four electric motors producing 555 kW (744 hp) each, spinning to 30,000 rpm. Combined output is 2,220 kW, which works out to over 3,000 PS (precisely 3,018 PS). The power-to-weight ratio is 1,217 PS per tonne. The standard Yangwang U9 uses an 800-volt architecture; the Xtreme steps up to a 1,200-volt platform, which allows higher discharge rates from its track-grade BYD Blade battery - rated at 30C continuous discharge. That voltage jump is not cosmetic: it cuts resistive losses at high current and allows the motors to maintain peak power deeper into the speed range, which is why 503 km/h is achievable rather than theoretical.
In September 2025, the U9 Xtreme lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 6 minutes 59.157 seconds, becoming the first electric production car to go under 7 minutes at the Green Hell. The tyres for the Abu Dhabi record run were semi-slick compounds developed in partnership with Giti Tire specifically for speeds above 500 km/h. It has not been confirmed whether the 30 customer cars will be delivered with the same tyre specification.
The Yangwang U9 Xtreme is priced at over 20 million yuan in China. CnEVPost reports that figure as USD 2.98 million. At the UAE's fixed dirham peg of 3.6725 per dollar, that converts to AED 10.94 million. There is no official UAE price as of 7 November 2026. Prices accurate as of November 2026.
Al-Futtaim Electric Mobility is the official Yangwang retailer in the UAE - not 'Al-Futtaim BYD'. Pre-bookings for the U9 Xtreme are described as 'expected soon', which means no order book was open at the time of the Dubai event. Only 30 units will be produced globally, so allocation to any single market will be very limited. The UAE was Yangwang's first overseas market: the U8 SUV debuted at a Sheikh Zayed Road showroom in September 2024, so the brand has an established retail presence here.
For perspective on where AED 10.94 million sits in the local market: a 2024 Bugatti Chiron Super Sport on Carzle is listed at AED 23,999,000 with 775 km on the clock. The U9 Xtreme's China price is under half of that. At the other end of the comparison, a 2023 Ferrari SF90 Spider Assetto Fiorano in GCC spec with 102 km is listed at AED 1,999,000 on Carzle. The U9 Xtreme costs more than five times that figure. Neither price comparison should be read as a value judgment - they are simply the reference points available in the UAE market today.
If your Bugatti Chiron is in the garage off Sheikh Zayed Road, here is the honest owner-angle answer: your car just lost its top-speed headline. The Chiron Super Sport 300+'s 490.48 km/h was the number everyone cited, and 503.17 km/h beats it by the same one-way methodology. That is real, and it will appear in every hypercar comparison published from November 2026 onward.
What it does not change: the Chiron's status as a hand-built, Molsheim-certified grand touring machine with a 1,500 PS W16 engine and 1,600 Nm of torque, produced in far greater numbers than 30 and with a global support network. The Rimac Nevera set a benchmark at 412 km/h and still holds the most track-tested electric hypercar record from a standing start. The Ferrari SF90's 340 km/h was never the point - the SF90 is a 1,000 PS hybrid GT that happens to be faster than almost everything it will ever share a road with. Ferrari and Lamborghini have both explicitly said they no longer chase absolute top-speed records, which is a business positioning statement, not an admission of defeat.
On resale: a single one-way speed run does not revalue a used Chiron or Nevera overnight. UAE registration renewal for a light vehicle costs AED 370 (RTA, November 2026) regardless of what it does at 503 km/h, which is a reminder that the administrative reality of owning any hypercar here is unchanged. What may shift is the conversation at the next concours or valet line in DIFC. That is worth being prepared for. Browse current Bugatti listings in the UAE and Ferrari listings if you want a reference point on where the established names sit today.
The U9 Xtreme is a remarkable engineering statement from a brand that did not exist as a hypercar maker five years ago. It ran on bespoke Giti semi-slick tyres developed for this specific record, on a straight closed road in Abu Dhabi with Abu Dhabi government bodies coordinating the closure. It is not a car you can replicate on a Dubai track day. Whether it is the car you should buy instead of a Chiron depends entirely on whether 30 units, an unconfirmed UAE tyre spec, and a brand still building its service network in this region meets your ownership brief. For related context on the ultra-exclusive end of the Bugatti range, see the Bugatti Mistral explained.
Quick answers from the Carzle Editorial
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not legal, financial, tax or insurance advice. Prices, specifications and availability are indicative, vary by trim and GCC specification, and change without notice - confirm current figures with the selling dealer. Government fees, registration, import, customs and traffic regulations are subject to change; always verify current requirements directly with the relevant UAE authority (RTA, MOEI, Customs, your emirate's traffic department) or your insurer before acting. Carzle is a marketplace: vehicles are listed and sold by independent dealers, and Carzle is not a party to any sale.
Please note
