Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...I interpreted the word "supercars" to mean something else, obviously! 'Guess I should have read the rest of the thread 1st. 'Might have dawned on me that was the case...
"...V8's and V10's...are not endemic in our car culture."
Of course not...more than partially because you've been paying thru the nose for your "petrol" since the dawn of time. So, in your neck of the woods it would follow that 'smaller' would naturally be accepted as 'gooder'...so to speak.
"The reason it (the 220) wasn't successful was more due to it's evil handling rather than the power plant - the motor being extremely powerful for the day."
I disagree, since 'the bottom fell out of the bucket' order-wise right after the engine swap was announced.