they're designing new engines to have worse piston ring sealing because it means lower friction, which improves fuel efficiency and power... sort of. the piston rings are supposed to wipe excess oil off the ignition chamber walls on the down stroke and if they don't do a good job, that oil gets consumed

I don't think anyone admits that they're doing it on purpose, but they're doing it on purpose

this has negative consequences overall. it's bad for spark plugs, it's bad for sensors in the exhaust, it's bad for the catalytic converter, all that stuff will wear out sooner on top of having to add oil to your car between oil changes

so basically they're gaining ground in a metric the government mandates -- fuel economy -- while at the very least making the vehicles significantly more expensive to maintain over time