The roaring noise of racing car engines filled the air, as the final round of June’s Fuji 24-hour endurance race in Japan kicked off to cheers from 20,000 spectators. The race, on a track near Mount Fuji, is part of the Super Taikyu Series, a big endurance race series for commercially available vehicles.
But before all the cars set off, two carmaker rivals met at the event to discuss the outlook for net zero carbon emissions in the automotive industry. Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who took the wheel as “Morizo” to race Toyota’s Corolla model himself, was joined by Ashwani Gupta, chief operating officer at Nissan, which was taking part with carbon neutral fuel for the first time. The Toyota Corolla has a hydrogen engine, while Nissan’s Z sports car uses fuel made from bio-raw materials.
And their appearance showed how, as other carmakers pivot to electric vehicles, Toyota and its Japanese rivals are also exploring alternative routes to net zero emissions — which maintain use of the internal combustion engine.