From the interior shots it would seem that this was never intended to be a street driven showpiece. In fact, it looks more like a race car project to me.

Many racers do not have any particular brand loyalty, they just need a light, strong, inexpensive & readily available bodyshell, & an available engine that they think that will make the aforementioned bodyshell go fast.

If the builder of this car followed these guidelines then, remembering that this car is not in Australia or the USA, I can see the logic in it.

Mazda engines, both rotomotor & recip types are used in 1200's in various parts of the world with great sucess so a precedent has been set with 'foreign' engines. As for a Pug engine? Well, not my first choice, but hey, what do I know about Euro stuff. [Nothing]