Yangwang’s quest to improve on the U9 Xtreme’s world record has been set back by a spectacular crash during a testing run, with footage showing the driver apparently walking away unharmed despite destroying the car in a frightening ultra-high-speed accident.

Clips from what appears to be an official video have been circulating on Chinese social media since Monday, showing the U9 Xtreme – which became the world’s fastest production car by reaching 496.22km/h in Germany last September – get ripped apart during high-speed testing in China.

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The car appears to have lost control on a closed track, skidded across the bitumen and collided with a barrier with such force that the entire front and rear of the vehicle was ripped away. However, the Yangwang did not flip or roll, and came to rest with the cabin basically intact.

Footage showed the driver standing outside the vehicle with support staff before emergency services arrived, and he was also seen sitting up and smiling (see above gallery) while having tests conducted in a medical facility. According to reports, including one from CarNews China, he was able to exit the car on his own. 

While the crash is obviously a setback for Yangwang’s plan to break 500km/h, it also acts as an advertisement of sorts for the U9 Xtreme’s safety features. Despite the incredible speed involved, and the near-total destruction of the rear end, the footage didn’t show any signs of a battery fire, and the carbon-tube body safety cell certainly seems to have done its job.

Last week, BYD executive vice president Stella Li revealed that the U9 Xtreme will head to Dubai to break its own world record not on a closed track, testing facility or airport runway, but on a road chosen by local police.

While she did not specify a speed target, she said it would be “ambitious” and make history which, reading between the lines, makes it pretty clear that the 500km/h mark is in the company’s crosshairs.

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The U9 Xtreme is driven by four e-motors making 2167kW – just a shade off 3000 horsepower – with its pioneering 1200-volt architecture one of the major keys to its incredible top speed.

Its record-setting run last year beat the old mark of 490.5km/h set by the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport, and the man who was steering the Yangwang on that occasion, German racing driver Marc Basseng, was full of praise for the car afterwards.

“This record is 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.”