MB production diesel, according to "Mercedes-Benz Buyer's Guide" by Frank Barrett.

The little postwar diesel Mercedes saved the company...NO decent and consistent supply of gasoline was available in much of Europe until the mid-'50s...so the 170D and others had a great market niche to exploit, almost by chance. Saw a beautiful '53 170DS owned by a Dupont living in Paris in the '50s...seemed that the fleet of Cadillacs and other big US cars they had shipped to Europe had no decent gas to run on, so they bought the MB diesel.

Have seen pix of the Cummins Auburn...Packard also had, of all things, a diesel AIRCRAFT engine in the '30s.