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There is no such thing as a vehicle that doesn't need repairs. Just ones you can't repair yourself.

The idea is that repairability and reliability are sometimes at odds.

I owned a number of 90s trucks and though it was easier to get into the engine, I had to do it well before 100k miles sometimes. Meanwhile I have a 2010s Japanese vehicle that is at 200k with only an alternator replaced.

Similarly there's now a few models of EV known to make it well past the 100k mark while needing little to no maintenance aside from replacing consumables. Most people aren't knowledgeable or well-equipped enough to work on those, though.

This sounds like correlation not causation.

It is and it isnt. The more goals a design has the harder it is to achieve all of them well.

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