Mercedes-Benz has announced that it will again offer a diesel-powered car in the US market. Starting in 2004, the company says it will market an E320 CDI, what the company terms 'a more fuel-efficient diesel version of its highly successful E-Class sedan'. Mercedes-Benz last offered a diesel car - the E300 Turbodiesel - in 1999. The company planned a one-year hiatus for the diesel until its new CDI engine was ready, but in the meantime, emissions standards were proposed which further delayed the new US diesel. Mercedes-Benz says that with precise electronic control of fuel delivery, and an oxidation catalyst, the E320 CDI can pass current 45-state emissions standards. When low-sulphur diesel fuel becomes available in the US around 2007, Mercedes-Benz engineers are optimistic that the CDI diesel can meet emissions standards in all 50 states.
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