FWIW, I did a stint related to automotive. I got to see a door open once of a product that never made it to the show room floor and tons of stories of Cars, materials, configurations, and engines that were tried and some killed at the last minute, and no I won't spill the beans on any of what I heard or saw. My stories are probably a drop in the bucket compared to what has been done in the last 30 years.
The point is, their is more Auto R & D going on than anyone in the lame stream media can rap their non-automotive arms around...
My last new car was an 08 we have less than a 100,000 miles on it but have spent exactly nothing n repair other than oil change and gasoline, not a belt, hose or spark plug items that used to be an annual ritual. I graduated High School in 1956 so I know what a muscle car was, you can have them, nothing but headaches compared to cars today even if they are light weight road noisy amplifiers.