Meet the one and only Aussie owner of the YangWang U9 Xtreme: The world’s fastest car
Most teenage boys dream of one day owning the world’s fastest car. And historically that’s been something badged Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren or Bugatti.
The fantasy loses a bit of sheen when you promise, eventually, you’ll have yourself a YangWang.
But if you want the globe’s quickest production car, it’s the U9 Xtreme from BYD-owned YangWang that holds top honours.
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This EV hypercar’s stats are ridiculous.
Its four electric motors can each spin to 30,000rpm and offer a combined 2200kW – powered by an 80kWh BYD battery – which helped it achieve a ratified top speed of 496.22km/h, deposing Bugatti’s Chiron for the world’s fastest crown.
It’s also lapped the Nurburgring in 6m 59s, claiming title of fastest electric super sports car and first of its type to go under seven minutes at the Green Hell.
And one, just one, is Australia-bound.
Ther Aussie buyer? Billionaire Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis who also owns Eagers Automotive, Australia’s largest car dealership group, and is a key retailer for BYD.
That helps get your name top of the list when putting in expressions of interest for a bonkers YangWang.
A mere 30 YangWang U9 Xtremes are being made, and it’s believed each chosen country will get a single example. That offers the sort of exclusivity billionaires go gooey for.
Politis was welcomed to the U9 Xtreme fold at the Beijing auto show, with interested spectators and media showing up to see the 81-year-old Aussie presented with ownership documents and a scale model of the ‘Wang.
What he paid for this mad machine wasn’t disclosed, but a BYD Australia spokesman said it would be “north of $1 million.”
Something of a bargain next to a $5 million Bugatti Chiron, and as Politis is worth roughly $2.5 billion, he probably didn’t need to run the lavish spend by his accountant.
The new owner opted for a red and black colour scheme; same as the world record car. His bespoke cabin trim’s also now in the order book, and the BYD team believe the Aussie-bound example will be with Politis by mid-2027.
Sticking point is it’s left-hand-drive only. That makes full Australian registration impossible, but Politis said he hopes his team can find a way to do demonstration drives through Aussie cities.
“It’s a great marketing thing,” Politis said. “We’ll move it around all our major BYD showrooms, and I’m sure there’ll be people lining up to see it. To see the fastest car in the world will attract a lot of people and expose them to our BYD products.”
Absolutely. But what about track use? Surely that’s where performance fans want to see this hyper ‘Wang?
“No, no,” Politis responded. “I’m not a racing car type of driver mate. We’re going to look after it because it’s unique.”
A shame, but the U9 Xtreme’s hardly the easiest thing for even an acrobat to climb into, let alone an octogenarian.
It has Lamborghini-like butterfly doors, is madly low to the ground, the two carbon-backed racing bucket seats don’t look altogether comfy, and the giant door sill would take some navigating. Politis admitted he’d not yet tried getting into one, let alone having a test drive.
We won’t expect to see this U9 Xtreme get close to its 500km/h potential on Australian soil, then. Such speedy antics would play havoc with its claimed 400km EV range anyway.
When it arrives, hopefully spectators can at least enjoy the YangWang’s party trick. It performs a small vertical jump thanks to its active suspension system.
