Disclosure: BYD flew the media to Abu Dhabi and hosted the events described here, so this account reflects a company-run trip.
BYD wanted the world’s press in the Gulf for one reason. It set out to show that its luxury arm can compete on outright speed, ultra-luxury and off-road ability in a single week. Over four days, BYD and its sub-brands Denza and Yangwang revealed a new super-luxury sedan, claimed a speed record for what it calls the fastest production hypercar and put their off-road cars through their paces in a region that knows its 4x4s.
The first announcement concerned the Yangwang U9 Xtreme. Driver Marc Bassen took the car to 503.17 km/h (312.65 mph) on Abu Dhabi’s E11 highway. Abu Dhabi closed the highway for the attempt.
Chasing the fastest production hypercar
That top speed is the record BYD claims for the fastest production hypercar. A Guinness World Records certificate was presented at the announcement.
The announcement itself took place in a car park outside the UAE Presidential Palace, in intense heat. Stella Li, BYD’s executive vice president, spoke briefly, and a Guinness representative presented a certificate. Guests sheltered under black Denza umbrellas while the car stood nearby with Basseng beside it.
The record moved quickly into the global media cycle, where it was reduced to a clip and a headline. The engineering behind this fastest production hypercar deserves more attention than a ten-second video allows. The car is built to do one thing very well: run fast in a straight line, with special aerodynamics and tyres that can cope with the loads involved.
For drivers who care about raw straight-line performance, Jensen Interceptor GTX Blends Vintage Craftsmanship pairs classic styling with 960 bhp of modern power.
Speed on show beneath the Burj Khalifa
That evening, the media made the coach journey to Dubai for a “Celebration of Speed” event at the foot of the Burj Khalifa. Around 3,700 guests from 50 countries attended, according to the organisers. The show featured a light display on the world’s tallest building, a performance by Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram and the U9 Xtreme, the fastest production hypercar BYD has built, rolling down a catwalk.
The Dubai event also showed the sheer breadth of BYD’s business. The group sells cars under three model series: Dynasty, Ocean and e Series. It also owns two further sub-brands, Fangchengbao and Linghui. In the UK, most buyers will recognise the Ocean series, which includes the Dolphin, Seal, Sealion 7, Atto 2, Atto 3 and Ti7.
Across Europe, BYD also sells the Atto 1, Han, Tang and Shark. These models come as pure electric cars or as hybrids, usually marked with the DM-i suffix. In China, the lineup runs even deeper. The tiny Seagull, sold as the Dolphin Mini or Dolphin Surf depending on the market, has passed one million sales since its launch in 2023.
BYD builds compact city cars, taxis, minivans, SUVs, pick-up trucks, saloons and light trucks. Its growth tracks China’s rise as an economic and technology power. The company began in 1995 as a battery maker, founded by Wang Chuanfu. It moved into lithium-ion battery production in 1997.
Five years later, BYD became the first Chinese company to qualify as a Tier 1 supplier to Motorola and Nokia, both leaders in mobile phones at the time. Before the decade ended, it was making handsets for both. Today, the company describes itself as the second-largest electronics manufacturer in the industry, supplying Apple, Samsung and Huawei among others.
The move into cars started badly. In 2003, BYD bought Xi’an Qinchuan Automobile, a carmaker with roots in military equipment manufacturing in the 1950s. BYD’s shareholders did not approve, and the share price halved. The company kept going. It launched the F3DM in 2008, which it calls the world’s first plug-in hybrid, and the BYD E6 followed in 2009 as its first pure electric car.
Today BYD ranks as the world’s fifth-largest carmaker. It employs more than one million people, and about 10 per cent of them are engineers.
In 2025, BYD sold 18.7 million “new energy vehicles” worldwide, a Chinese term covering battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars. That total excludes the United States, the world’s second-largest car market. BYD does not sell passenger cars there, and Chinese brands face significant barriers in that market.
Denza began in 2010 as a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz. Its name comes from the word for “power” and the brand now focuses on premium, sporting models, including the Z9 GT fastback. A Z sports car is due. Denza launched in Europe in 2025, and Daniel Craig became its brand ambassador earlier this year.
Yangwang is the youngest of the three. Launched in 2023, it is BYD’s first truly premium brand. Its lineup is small: the U7 sedan, the U8 SUV, the U9 supercar and now the Altior. The brand says its focus is on luxury, craftsmanship and heritage.
The Altior made its global debut the following night at the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi. By then, the press contingent had started to feel more like a backdrop than a jury. Guests applauded on cue, and a wall of phones recorded the event, tagged with hashtags such as #u9xtreme, #yangwang and #thepursuitbeyond.
Li returned to the stage to present Yangwang’s flagship, a large all-electric limousine. She framed it as a car with a heritage story meant to rival the long histories of European luxury makers. The Phantom and Ghost from Rolls-Royce are obvious reference points. Yangwang’s design team is led by Wolfgang Egger, a former Volkswagen Group designer.
A palace on wheels
Traditional British luxury cars were often described as gentlemen’s clubs, rolling versions of leather armchairs, polished wood and deep carpets. Yangwang goes further. It calls the Altior a “palace on wheels” and draws links between its forms, craftsmanship and atmosphere and the residences of China’s ancient rulers.
Li said: “A palace is built for power, for ceremony, for history. Tonight I want to show you a palace that moves. A Yangwang!” The name means “look up”. Its logo draws on the Chinese character for lightning, or electricity.
The visual identity also uses the ding, an ancient vessel or cauldron used for cooking, storage and ritual offerings. The character 鼎 appears in the light graphics of both the U8 SUV and the Altior. Li said the ding has stood for “unity, stability, and peace for 4,000 years”.
Li also listed craft details. These include Suzhou embroidery, a technique once used in the Imperial court, where “years of work went into a single garment”. The front grille carries 137 jewel stones, each cut with 51 facets. The badge uses real gold. Yangwang tested 150 leather suppliers worldwide before choosing its hides.
The 39-speaker stereo includes four speakers in each headrest, tuned so that passengers sitting beside each other cannot hear each other’s audio. Other features include a fragrance dispenser and a “one-button paradise” that sets the cabin to the owner’s preferences on entry. A one-button privacy mode shuts the interior off from the outside world.
The palace metaphor still works, though.
The team extracted the symbolic core of the ding and built the design around it. “This is not decoration, it is heritage,” he said. The interior’s symmetry draws on Chinese architecture, which turns each journey into a private retreat.
The car’s capabilities were also listed. These include four-wheel drive, a suspension system and emergency flotation, which the U8 SUV also offers. Its electrical system works with BYD’s Flash Charger.
No performance figures or battery size were given.
Ten years ago, he said, the team numbered just 80 people.
“There were mountains of opportunity from the very beginning,” he said.
Some may read the Altior’s conservative shape as a missed chance to exploit the flexibility of an EV platform. Egger rejects that view. “For super luxury, it cannot be too futuristic,” he said. “It needs a classic touch and a balance and an attitude in the proportions. It can’t have a sporty nose, it needs verticality.”
Egger describes the interior as “a real story of Chinese culture”, with stitching patterns and a ginkgo leaf logo. Most owners will be driven rather than drive, so Egger stresses the rear seats. He describes the Altior as offering a “feeling of expanded space”.
If you’re intrigued by how carmakers reinterpret heritage for an electric era, Fiat’s Electric Multiplina Revives Microcar Charm offers a smaller-scale take on the same idea.
“You cannot do such design in a casual way,” he said. The aim, he added, is to bring Chinese culture and philosophy into the car for customers in China and abroad.
The evening closed with fireworks, music and drones filming the event. Rolls-Royce and Bentley have not yet done so.
The resemblance to rivals is hard to miss.
Off the beaten track
The final day took the group to an off-road camp off the E20 highway, east of Abu Dhabi. Recreational 4×4 driving, treks and competitions are common in the region’s deserts, which helps explain the popularity of high-powered SUVs. Toyota’s Land Cruiser remains the top choice among local drivers.
The writer was not able to drive it, so there are no first-hand driving impressions.
Abu Dhabi changes fast. Construction cranes are everywhere, and the empty spit of land where the U9 Xtreme certificate was presented already looked different. BYD’s message across the four days was clear. The speed record is real, but the caveats matter. The Altior is a bold statement, and the brand’s next test is whether buyers agree.
Sources & Links
Frequently asked questions
How fast did the Yangwang U9 Xtreme drive on Abu Dhabi’s E11?
Driver Marc Bassen took the Yangwang U9 Xtreme to 503.17 km/h (312.65 mph) on Abu Dhabi’s E11 highway. Abu Dhabi closed the highway for the attempt.
Who founded BYD and when did the company begin?
BYD began in 1995 as a battery maker, founded by Wang Chuanfu. It moved into lithium-ion battery production in 1997.
How many new energy vehicles did BYD sell in 2025?
BYD sold 18.7 million “new energy vehicles” worldwide in 2025, a term covering battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars. That total excludes the United States, where BYD does not sell passenger cars.
When was Denza founded and who was its partner?
Denza began in 2010 as a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz. Its name comes from the word for “power” and the brand now focuses on premium, sporting models.
More in
Vehicles
All Vehicles
More like this
Isabel Mayfair in Abu Dhabi: A Spectacle of Brass, Silk, and Marble by DBM Design
Frank Gehry's Vision Comes to Life: Abu Dhabi's 600-Seat Youth Concert Hall Unveiled
Revolutionizing Feline Comfort: The Tesla Cybertruck Cat Tray
