[teleforce]

> The technical competence in building gasoline cars was definitely there

I'm not sure about your statement here after the wet timing belt inside engine debacle for many European cars engines including Renault that's still existed until today. It's a total disregards of the laws on material physics and chemistry [1], [2].

[1] Wet Belt in Oil Engines: Who Approved This and Why Is It Still Being Made [video]:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SASSFjIt5I

[2] Why So Many People Hate Wet Timing Belts:

https://www.theautopian.com/why-so-many-people-hate-wet-timi...

[consp]

While all true people also do not service their cars and these must be serviced on a regular interval with non standard components. Still a stupid design though which should never have been out into production. Glad my car has a chain, even had one in the past with a wonky guide which made lots of noise but worked until the end without issues (write-off was not engine related but purely economical, expensive tires brakes etc).

[hammock]

The wet timing belt reduces fuel consumption by about 1% so you can thank efficiency requirements for that.