Toyota: Hydrogen could save combustion-powered sports cars

Toyota remains convinced that hydrogen is key to ensuring combustion-powered sports cars remain viable as part of the global transition to zero-emission cars.

Speaking to Autocar, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s boss Masahito Watanabe said: “We still think the internal combustion engine has some potential.

“We don’t want to give up. It’s not over just yet, because if you look at the internal combustion engine, there’s still hydrogen combustion that can be a part of that zero-emission line-up, so I think that’s going to continue.”

The biggest limitation to Toyota’s ‘save the combustion engine’ plan, Watanabe admits, is the global lack of hydrogen filling stations.

But the GR boss says Toyota itself could come to the rescue – in Europe, at least.

That’s because Toyota Motor Europe has set up a new company called Hydrogen Factory Europe, tasked with accelerating the commercialisation of both hydrogen tech and the infrastructure needed to support it.

Thanks to this investment, Toyota is confident Europe will soon become the world’s largest hydrogen market.

With growing government interest and further investment from the private sector, Toyota says it will soon roll out the fuel to power trucks, buses, shipping and sports cars.

“What we want to do in the end is provide as many options as possible to our customers,” said Watanabe. “So we will continue to develop the hydrogen internal combustion engine as part of that.”

As well as pure hydrogen combustion power, Gazoo Racing says it will develop hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles and pure-electric powertrains.

Toyota Australia is currently running a world-first trial of hydrogen-fuelled ICE based on the Toyota HiAce van, and if it proves a commercial success, the Japanese car-maker is expected to apply the technology to a broad range of vehicles – including the HiLux ute and LandCruiser SUV.

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