2010 Nissan Micra gets Turbo and Supercharger with 56mpg

and some Nissan 350z wheels.

Yes , imitation is sincerest form of flattery , that`s why VW followed ( I don`t want to say copied becouse copy it`s something identical , but copied idea of technology ) mitsubishi`s GDI - lean burn direct injection engine technology ( VW`s FSI ) and mitsubishi`s turbo GDI - lean burn direct injection turbo engine technology ( VW`s TFSI ) . In 2006 VW combined new GDI ( FSI ) technology with old technology of supercharging and turbocharging ( e.g. nissan march 1987 or lancia rally car in 1985 ) and created TSI engines , turbocharged/supercharged GDI engines did recently also renault and fiat .
TurboSpyder , there are also many other technologies that Germans followed Japanese . Lots of them .
BTW that`s why I like some japanese cars becouse they`re often innovators and I like new technology . Germans are sometimes also innovators but often technology that they`re introducing in europe was earlier introduced in Japan .

I`m not talking only about direct injection itself becouse this must have some purpose , mitsubishi used direct injection for lean burn conditions and thus fuel economy .
I know that technologies that you pointed were introduce by German manufactures but I have three reservations :
"- ABS antilock braking system"
ELECTRONIC antilock braking system , before were some mechanical or electric abs systems ( e.g. jensen ff ) but they weren`t performing very good . "Mercedes-type" ABS is performing very good that`s why it`s used by others .
"- Rotary (Wankel) engine"
It had serious durability problems becouse of "chatter marks" and other problems that Germans couldn`t solve , mazda solve this and other problems and did usable .
"- Electronic stability control"
Toyota introduced their VSC in that same year (1995) in japanese market Crown Majesta and mercedes also introduced ESP in 1995 in Europe .

"Can you list the *significant* game-changing technologies the Japanese introduced?"

From this what I remember at the moment , though some not game-changing :

-GDI
-adaptative cruise control
-active suspension
-common-rail system for diesel engine
-modern-type hybrid system
-all aluminium car (monococque,suspension...)
-engine`s balancer shaft
-navigation systems (GPS and non-GPS)
-NOx trap (absorber) catalyst technology for diesel engine
-cam swithing variable valve lift with variable valve timing ( earlier was only Alfa`s variable valve timing )
-4 wheel steering
-torque vectoring AWD
-colision mitigation braking system
-driver monitoring system
-AUTO PEDESTRIAN DETECTION in night-vision ( I pointed this becouse this what BMW recently refers as their world`s first with is lie )
-traction control TCL that decreses engine output when too much throtle has been used when taking a curve to prevent the vehicle from overshooting (not mercedes traction control)
-reliable variable displacement (cylinder deactivation)
-electric power steering
-variable steering ratio depending from vehicle speed

Like I said some time ago diesel and petrol cars will coexsist becouse from petroleum you can produce some amount of this two fuels .

"And if you're going to use Jensen's poor mechanical abs system as an example of the first abs, I will use these examples as firsts."

Didn`t I say that it wasn`t performing good ?
Mercedes/Bosch did modern , good performing electronic abs that everyone is now using like I said earlier . These examples of balance shaft and common-rail that you used are idea , not in production car , though also important .

U.S. military didn`t GPS navigation device for cars . There were also non-GPS navigation systems .

Honda accord isn`t and will not use NOx trap catalyst , they are going to use SCR catalyst in their diesel . Toyota`s D-CAT has used for couple of years .

"I don't know who developed the first adaptive cruise control but I know Autoweek said that the Mercedes system is by far the best."

I know and it wasn`t mercedes , stop-and-go from link also not mercedes .

Ross Brown isn`t German as I remember . Toyota has in their F1 team peoples from all over the world , they wanted it to be multi national team . I don`t know why they`re based in germany , maybe they need to be based somewhere in europe becouse there are most of races ( logistics ) . If you want some japanese winning manufacturer look for example at mitsubishi and dakar rally or from latest Acura and ALMS . There really isn`t that many technologies that have been introduce to production cars from racing especially in recent times becouse automotive sport is very restricted by regulations , in fact there are even technologies introduced to F1 from production vehicles like hybrid system .

Just like I saw program about toyota F1 and they said that there are peoples from all over the world , toyota wanted it to be multinational team .

"Any comments about this information?"

Honda is doing very bad in formula 1 , toyota average , nothing special , no doubt about this . But when I thought for a while about formula 1 champions I couldn`t remeber myself any German manufacturer and when I looked here I know why , becouse there isn`t any :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Formula_One_World_Constructors%27_Champions

The same about BMW - Ultimate driving machine . What`s about their racing heritage ? They`re mostly in WTCC and some time ago you said WTCC is not *major* racing ( although I think different ) .
They don`t have such a heritage as french manufacturers . And having such a heritage french probably are doing great sport cars , yea , they can`t put that technical know-how on the road :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&v=j-tcImlrXsU

Honda was also engine suplier and was doing than very well , but being engine suplier isn`t the same as being constructor of the chassis . Becouse of rules in formula 1 engines aren`t as important as chassis in winning e.g. Ferrari engines in Force India team .
I know that they were winning in 1934-1939 years when nazi government was sponsoring German car manufacturers which is well known fact and British government wasn`t sponsoring than their manufacturers , tell the whole story about this period . But despite that I give them a credit becouse they introduced then some technologies e.g. independent suspension . Germans were also winning in formula 1 without government grants in other years like you said but if you look at whole formula 1 history conclusion is that Britons , Italians and Frenchmans are king of the hill especially as chassis manufacturers .

Open your mind , don`t think only : "Deutschland , Deutschland uber alles" .

I don`t want to discount becouse there for a long time wasn`t any German constructor , notice that honda was also only engine supplier .


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_mathematics

Here is about japanese matemathics when japan was isolated and there are also links to credible sites like this biography from university :
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Seki.html

So what you actualy try to say though not directly is that German cars are better becouse of Aryan race peoples that they come from . When some time ago I was searching informations about this mathematics I remember that I read that this shows that there was sophisticated mathematic in Japan before west influences .
But not only mathematics matters , of course japanese engineering , sience was nowhere as advanced as western ( I`m not historian , I don`t know how much ) but most importantly there wasn`t industrial revolution that occured in Britain ( very imortant invention - steam engine ) and extended to other european countries . From wikipedia :

"The Industrial Revolution on Continental Europe came later than in Great Britain. In many industries, this involved the application of technology developed in Britain in new places. Often the technology was purchased from Britain or British engineers and entrepreneurs moved abroad in search of new opportunities. By 1809 part of the Ruhr Valley in Westphalia were being called Miniature England because of its similarities to the industrial areas of England. The German, Russian and Belgian governments all provided state funding to the new industries.

In some cases (such as iron), the different availability of resources locally meant that only some aspects of the British technology were adopted."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_revolution#Continental_Europe

So this are the facts and that`s why Britain was "the strongest" country in the world until WW2 . Germans and other west europe countries later upgraded British technology just like did japan but later .

"Gottfried Liebniz was a contemporary of Isaac Newton and the co-inventor of calculus."

And Takakazu Shinsuke Seki was inventor of calculus in Japan :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seki_Kowa
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Seki.html

Though we are learning in the school Newton`s calculus this Seki Takakazu`s calculus is also working .

TurboSpyder , calculus was developed independently in various places in the world .

The best will be if end talking about mathematics and start talking about CARS becouse we can go even further to first civilizations or first homo sapiens but this haven`t any conections with who have made automotive innovations since first car .

Notice they say it is similar to the CONCEPT that VW introduced. Which means VW is not being copied since it was never put into production. Nissan on the other hand will have a production version of this engine out before VW.

So who is going to flatter who when VW finally decides to make one for production instead of for the oh's and ah's at an auto show.

Not trying to knock VW by any means but it seems something as a concept is different than actual production. VW could have taken the van market by storm if they introduce the Microbus concept as a produciton model. Finally 8 years later they are considering it.

Well I was referring more to what is available here in the US, but again, the Nissan is not available in the US, so I can say I learned something new today :-)

Japanese brand copying German brand. So what's new?

''Japanese brand copying German brand. So what's new?''

You realy are retarded, have you ever heard of the nissan march superturbo. It had a twincharger system back in 1988. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_MA_MA09ERT

Listen tool, Lancia used the system almost 10 years before the Japanese imitators. When it comes to car engineering the Japanese are nothing but tools who don't do anything else but copy the famous European car engineering. Get back in your corner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_Delta_S4

Star, you're sounding like a Greek taking credit for everything from Democracy to our language. The Europeans may have their high points but their arrogance got them into their complacent stance.

Well, if you think that 3 years is almost 10...... and besides, the S4 was a Group B, car, and the March Superturbo was a full production car. Agreed, the Japanese do have a tendency to copy other peoples' ideas, but then refine them, make them cheaper to produce, and reliable.....

@Star

Its not a production car so it doesn't count.

Star are you from Russia?

So VW copy it from Lancia right. VW keep copy everything from other manufacturer.