If it was so critical to run them in hard from new the forum archives would be full of people posting about oil consumption issues.
Can't say mine was ever driven particularly hard on a daily basis and certainly not from new and it never used to use a single drop of oil till it decided to drop a shell a few years back at 120 odd K's on the clock. Now after a rebuild it drinks oil for fun, with, like others have reported, no signs of where its disappearing to / from.
It was more related to power outputs and was from threads back in the mid 2000's.
If the oil isn't leaking and isn't getting dumped into the breather system then it can only be getting past the rings. Which means either the engine wasn't built properly, there is a problem with the rings and/or bores, the rings aren't sealing due to not bedding in properly (there was a problem with Ford zetecsfor example having a special honing process that was difficult to replicate at a re-bore at the time which meant rebuilt engines weren't as wear resistant), the oil is not up to the job and gets too thin, the engine is running way too rich and is causing bore wash which on the old carb engines I used to tune was also a problem with lots of short journeys.
Manufacturers quote high oil consumption figures for the simple reason that every car will be run differently. My mum's zafira uses a lot of oil but doesn't smoke pulls well and returns the fuel consumption it should. Others report no issues with the same engine.
You either do a full compression and leakdown test on the engine to find the cause or live with it and keep chucking the oil in.