Akio Toyoda, the president of the world’s biggest automaker Toyota Motor Corp., spent the weekend driving around a racetrack in western Japan in a specially outfitted Corolla.
But it’s no ordinary version of the bestselling car. Toyoda drove a version specially equipped with its new in-house hydrogen engine, which propels the vehicle by burning the fuel much like traditional engines use gasoline. Along with Mazda Motor Corp., Toyota showcased vehicles running on carbon-neutral propellants in a three-hour road race this weekend in Okayama.
Toyota’s hydrogen-powered car underscores the automaker’s belief that a wide variety of vehicle types — including hybrids and hydrogen-powered cars, in addition to electric vehicles — will play a role in decarbonizing its fleet over the coming decades. That puts the company in contrast to others, such as General Motors Co., Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo Car AB, which say they’ll sell only EVs two decades from now.