Mercedes is done putting diesels in U.S. cars

After more than two years of internal debates and discussions with the Environmental Protection Agency,
Mercedes-Benz has decided not to put diesels in any of its passenger cars in the U.S. market. The brand’s only diesel offerings will be
Sprinter vans. During the
Detroit Auto Show, head of R&D for Mercedes Car Group Ola Källenius said diesels only account for 3 percent of brand sales at most, hence, “The diesel doesn’t fit into our portfolio in the U.S.”

Dieselgate encouraged the EPA
to target the emissions of every diesel sold here, and Mercedes took a few bullets. In early 2016, the
U.S. Department of Justice asked Daimler to have a look at Mercedes’ diesel certification process. Shortly after that,
Mercedes delayed for a year plans to sell diesel versions of its
C-Class sedan and
GLC-Class crossover. One year later, the EPA still hadn’t granted Mercedes the right to sell 2017-model-year diesel vehicles in the U.S.,
so Mercedes gave up trying.

In the wake of EPA
investigations into Fiat Chrysler’s diesel emissions, Mercedes said last year that the
EPA had taken such a hard line on diesels that “functionalities that are common in diesel vehicles” were being labeled as “undisclosed Auxiliary Emission Control Devices and potentially impermissible.” Mercedes has decided that the effort to comply requires too much investment for just 2 or 3 percent of sales here, especially now that EVs are getting major attention inside the company and in the marketplace.

Despite U.S. and worldwide diesel sales facing big challenges — UBS Group predicts worldwide diesel market share will decline to 4 percent of passenger cars by 2025, from 13.5 percent at the end of 2016 — some U.S. entrants remain in the game. Outside of trucks, the traditional diesel vehicle,
BMW offers an oil-burning
3 Series and
X5,
Chevrolet has a turbodiesel
Cruze, and
Jaguar
Land Rover — which said 10 to 15 percent of its U.S. sales were diesels — proffers a range of models from the
XE to the
Range Rover.

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