Chinese automakers are leaving every other brand for dust right now. They’re dominating in terms of electric vehicle capabilities, are catching up with legacy automakers in sales and now are jumping ahead with the kind of tech they’re packing into their latest models. Nowhere is this more true than in the Yangwang U9, which comes with special suspension system that can hop over potholes and other debris in the road.
The Yangwang U9 is the halo car from BYD, which is steadily edging towards the crown of biggest electric vehicle maker in the world right now. The car boasts a bonkers design, sky-high price tag and the kind of tech and features that are reserved for the super rich. Classic supercar stuff, really.
The new flagship also boasts a feature that you might wish more cars had, suspension that can hop over potholes so they don’t shake you to your very core.
The 1.68 million yuan ($230,00 USD) Yangwang U9 comes with a clever system that BYD calls Disus X suspension, reports CarScoops. That system has already been showcased through weird dances performed by the car, but now its true purpose has been revealed: avoiding obstacles in the road. As CarScoops reports:
A new video released by the Chinese carmaker showing what the suspension can do has been released and its expanded skillset is equally weird – simultaneously amazing and completely pointless.
The 100-second promo places a 1,287-hp (1,305 PS / 960 kW) quad-motor U9, complete with its McLaren Senna-style rear spoiler, on a test track, where it accelerates hard from a standing start up to 120 km/h (75 mph) before leaping over a water-filled crater in the ground. The front wheels pop-up first to help get the U9 airborne, then the rears follow. Though the gap is only 8 ft (2.5 m), text on the screen tells us the U9 actually jumped 20 ft (6 m) in total.
Next up there’s a 13-ft (4 m) stretch of tire-shredding metal spikes, each measuring 1.4 inches (35 mm) tall, the kind of thing James Bond used to throw out of his car to send the bad guys spinning into the weeds. And then there’s a same-sized patch of four brightly colored dust strips. The U9 clears them both, and it does it all without a driver onboard, relying purely on its autonomous tech.
Now, the skills shown off in the video don’t mean that the U9 can pull off Dukes Of Hazard-style jumps across rivers or anything like that. Instead, CarNewsChina reports that the suspension system has been designed to navigate long, low obstacles.
The Disus X system of suspension and hydraulics also means that the Yangwang U9 can drive on three wheels. So, if you don’t quite manage to jump all the nails you encounter on your route to work and end up with a puncture on one tire, your U9 will still complete the journey for you.
What’s more, this isn’t a video to show off what a future car could potentially do, this is a real car that already exists in the world. The U9 was unveiled early last year and deliveries of the Chinese supercar began in August 2024. Now, as BYD’s cars roll out around the world in greater numbers, we’ll have to wait and see if the feature trickles down to more attainable models or if jumping cars will be another trick reserved for the super-rich.
