Why did Mercedes-Benz offer diesels back in the 70s and 80s?

[Biff]

Not that they weren't totally awesome, but luxury + diesel always seemed a little strange to me. Even stranger is that so many sold in the diesel hating US back then.

[Michael B]

Mercedes has always had diesels and most likely will always have them hell they built them for the german army

[Adam B]

Mercedes always has, and still does, offer diesels across their line in the entire rest of the world. So the question isn't why did they offer them in the USA, since the answer is obvious. They last for a million miles, they're mechanically simpler, and they get better mileage. The question is why did they and other companies stop? The answer is that American air-quality laws changed in such a way that the particulates that diesel engines used to generate made them impossible to sell here. Thanks to more recent developments, diesel engines are now fairly clean, and they're also no longer the rattling messes they used to be.

BMW makes a diesel. Jaguar makes a diesel. ALL of the major manufacturers offer diesels, just not here.