This is an exotic theory, which does not treat quarks and leptons as elementary objects. One considers further substructures, which are thought to be visible if experiments can be performed in very high energies. Experimentally this model could never be proved. PDG tables, thus currently accept quarks and leptons as elementary objects.
Another way to think about it is to consider standard model as an effective field theory where quarks and leptons are composite particles, which are bound by new gauge forces those are asymptotically free but those become strong at intermediate energy scales such as 10-100 TeVs. Quarks and leptons are made out of preons transforming non-trivially under such new gauge forces, sometimes called "metacolor" forces.
- Theoretical and Phenomenological Constraints on Preons, Models and Supergroups, Itzhak Bars, Nucl.Phys. B208, 77 (1982)
- Quarks and Leptons as Composite States of Confined O(n) Preons, R. Barbieri, L. Maiani, R. Petronzio, Phys.Lett. 96B, 63 (1980)
Brahachari: Reading your first answer tells me that if high-energy collisions can be made to occur, one could discover a preon. It seems that the limitation is experimental in nature.
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