Was it ever officially stated that there would be vehicle customization anyway, or was it simply assumed? All I can find are videos inferring the existence of customization, and a poorly translated (French to English) dev interview talking about vehicles being "fully controlled and weaponized," but not explicitly saying anything about customization.

There was also an explicit question and answer about this, which was as follows:

Q: "Do we have the ability to customize vehicles, or is it still on the 'not talking about it yet?'

A: "We have mentioned in some of the interviews, that some form of it might be in the game, but that is really it. That's not really a very high primary focus feature for us, so I can't say right away yes or no. I think that's the status."

If it was never confirmed, was it really "removed?" Or just never present to begin with? Of course this isn't to say people can't be disappointed by its absence.