“The world is moving toward electric vehicles, there’s no doubt there,” Tomomi Nakamura, Subaru Corp.’s president, said at the Suzuka race circuit east of Osaka Saturday.Subaru is exploring the potential that other options — such as cars powered by carbon-neutral fuels — may have a role to play in lowering fleet emissions, according to Nakamura.
The chiefs of the three Japanese auto majors took the opportunity to lay out their belief that a variety of technologies, in addition to EVs, will contribute to cleaner transport over the coming decades. Carbon neutrality “is not something that can be immediately realised,” but racing and building awareness around Toyota’s hydrogen-powered car is an example of how “actions today are creating that future,” he said.
The Japanese carmakers’ approach of maintaining a broad range of options has drawn criticism from those who argue that they will fall behind in the pivot to battery-powered cars.