The fastest and most expensive Chinese vehicle ever released is coming to Australia, but just one example of the $1 million-plus, 2220kW Yangwang U9 Xtreme electric supercar is heading Down Under.
Nick Politis, a director of Eagers Automotive – Australia’s largest new-car dealer group and a retail partner of BYD – is the buyer of the sole U9 Xtreme coming here.
Known for his collection of exotic cars, Mr Politis told media including CarExpert that it will be the first electric vehicle (EV) in his supercar collection.
“It’s a beautiful car and we’ll get it early next year,” Mr Politis said at the 2026 Auto China motor show in Beijing, where he placed an official order for the record-breaking vehicle.
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The industry stalwart was ceremoniously presented with a scale model of the supercar at the show by BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu, BYD Group vice president Liu Xueliang, and Yangwang division general manager Amy Hu, confirming Australia’s allocation of a U9 Xtreme.
It will be used to promote the BYD and Denza brands in Australia. Yangwang is a performance-focused sub-brand of the Chinese automaker but is not present in this market.
A statement from BYD Australia said Mr Politis was motivated by the U9 Xtreme’s world-beating performance and ultra exclusivity.
The Yangwang U9 Xtreme is an even faster, more powerful version of the U9 electric supercar sold in China but not offered here.
Only 30 examples of the Xtreme will be produced globally, all in left-hand drive form, with no more than one sent to each export market.
It packs four electric motors, each of which are claimed to produce 555kW of power, for a combined peak output of 2220kW – enough for a claimed top speed of 496.22km/h which was achieved in testing in Germany.
The near-500km/h top speed hasn’t been independently verified, but would see the U9 Xtreme claim the title of the world’s fastest production car from the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, which recorded 490.485km/h in 2019.
BYD says it also posted a lap time of 6:59.157 – more than five seconds faster than the electric Rimac Nevera – around the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife, a 20.832km public-road circuit used for dynamic benchmarking by car manufacturers worldwide.
The U9 Xtreme was also quicker around the Nürburgring than the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra with Track Package, which lapped the infamous German circuit in 7:04.957 last year.
While its price hasn’t been made public, the Xtreme is expected to cost more than $1 million. That would make it the most expensive BYD ever sold here – and the most expensive car from China.
The Xtreme is considerably pricier than the regular U9, which costs ¥1.68 million (A$343,862) in China and comes with a 960kW/1680Nm quad-motor set-up good for a claimed 0-100km/h acceleration time of 2.4 seconds and a 309km/h top speed.
BYD also showed its Formula X supercar at the Beijing show, a butterfly-doored model based around a carbon-fibre chassis – like the U9 – and sold under its Fangchengbao brand.
Fangchengbao models are already sold in Australia under the Denza premium brand, including the large plug-in hybrid B5 and B8 off-road SUVs.
The Denza Z Convertible Concept was also revealed at the show, previewing an electric rival for the Porsche 911 Cabriolet featuring a soft-top folding roof.
Like the standard Yangwang U9, neither the BYD Formula X nor the Denza Z have yet been confirmed for Australian release.
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