BYD executive vice president Stella Li has revealed the company’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme rocket will attempt to break its own world record – and most likely, the 500km/h barrier – in Dubai in November. However, instead of doing so on a testing ground or airport runway, it will fire down a street.

The U9 Xtreme already owns the title of world’s fastest production car thanks to its 496.22km/h blast at Germany’s Automotive Testing Papenburg oval last September. That insane run took it past the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport’s mark of 490.5km/h.

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“You know we have the U9 Xtreme, the fastest car on the planet … 496.22km/h,” Li told Business SNA. “But our engineers said, ‘No, Stella, this is not enough, because we have more power. We want to make another world record.’

“So we think, where’s the best place to do this world record … and we chose Dubai. We now have a schedule, very clear … in November we’re going to do this world record here. 

“Dubai, we call it the dreamland. Any time you have a crazy idea, you can realise it here. So we want to use a road, a police officer can choose which road. We need a street with 15 kilometres.”

While Li said she needed to keep the speed target a secret, she also said it would be “ambitious” and make history, so the breaking of the 500km/h barrier should certainly be on the cards.

The Yangwang U9 Xtreme was steered by German racing driver Marc Basseng for its original record-setting run, and he was effusive about the car’s capabilities afterwards.

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“This record was only possible because the U9 Xtreme has such incredible performance,” he said. “Technically, something like this is not possible with a combustion engine. Thanks to the electric motor, the car is quiet, there are no load changes, and that allows me to focus even more on the track.”

The U9 Xtreme’s remarkable performance comes thanks largely to its 1200-volt electrical system, which is the first of its kind in a production vehicle. The hypercar is powered by four electric motors that make a combined, and frightening, 2167kW.

If there’s a car that could beat it to the 500km/h mark, it’s the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut, which is theoretically capable of reaching that velocity, and covered the quarter mile in a ridiculous 8.54 seconds at 305km/h in June this year.