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I don’t know about his claim, they still use cheap steel, but HSLA really is just our same basic steels with less impurities to make them better. Personally I feel it is the manufacturers ability to mold intricate plastic shapes now, CNC equipment is a dime a dozen in the manufacturing sector, we can do things with cylinder heads now that had to be hand ported before. The repeatability from part to part would be inconceivable 25 years ago. This gives designers the ability to better optimize their designs. This has really been possible for 100 years but you were buying a hand crafted Ferrari to get it.
As to the fuels, it might be hard to pin down but the big leaps are easily visible; Lead removed in 1975. The switch from 5000+ ppm S to LSD to ULSD. The adoption of oxygenated gasolines. Adoption of top tier gasoline helps an engine maintain its ability to meet emissions standards.
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