Japanese auto giants are hedging their bets on the future of transportation, pressing ahead with the development of cars that run on cleaner fuels even as the momentum around electric cars builds globally.

“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. “But is it going to be a world of only EVs? No one can answer that question right now.”

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. Along with Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp., Subaru entered vehicles equipped with engines that burn hydrogen and different carbon-neutral fuels in a road race in Japan’s Mie Prefecture over the weekend.