If you take a lot of cars apart, as i did at one time more or less as a hobby, you will notice that during the 1970's if Mercedes came up with something it would show up on Toyotas about seven years later.

Most of these were under the skin sort of things like how a window regulator was attached or a suspension member was formed, but it was easy to see that Toyota was taking Mercedes apart to see how they worked.

But this is nothing new. Compare the dimensions of the first 1971 Datsun 240Z with the the 1958 Ferrari GTO and you will see only slight differences.