America's Diesel Car Market Gets Even Smaller
- U.S. diesel sales fading fast amid fewer choices, high costs
- Regulator scrutiny post-VW keeps some models off market
A diesel all-aluminum 4-cylinder OM 654 unit combustion engine sits on display beside a Mercedes-Benz E220 automobile during Daimler AG's TecDay Road to the Future event in Stuttgart, Germany, on Thursday, June 9, 2016. Mercedes-Benz will start selling a fuel-cell electric version of its GLC sport utility vehicle next year, an effort to broaden the appeal of the technology with the first publicly available battery that can be charged both with hydrogen and at a wall socket.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergMercedes-Benz’s decision to pause its U.S. diesel plans represents another blow to the technology’s already small and diminishing share of auto sales in the country.
Daimler AG’s luxury car brand cited the tiny share of the market diesels occupy and the "increased effort" needed to obtain approvals from U.S. environmental regulators as the reasons why it halted efforts to obtain certification to sell 2017 model year diesel versions of its C-Class sedan, GLE SUV and other cars. It said it may return to the market in the future.