History of the diesel car Production diesel car history started in 1933 with Citroën's Rosalie, which featured a diesel engine option (the 1,766 cc 11UD engine) in the Familiale (estate or station wagon) model. The Mercedes-Benz 260D and the Hanomag Rekord were introduced in 1936. Immediately after World War II, and throughout the 1950s and 1960s, diesel-powered cars began to gain limited popularity, particularly for commercial applications, such as ambulances, taxis, and station wagons used for delivery work. Most were conventional in design. Mercedes-Benz offered a continuous stream of diesel-powered taxis, beginning in 1949 with their 170D powered by the OM-636 engine. Later, in 1959
Budd Rail Diesel Car between Sydney and Bomaderry. Age and mechanical problems led the cars conversion to locomotive-hauled coaches beginning in 1982; the last self-propelled run occurred in 1986. In the late 1970s Budd sought to replace the aging RDCs with a new design, the SPV-2000. The body shell was based on an Amfleet coach, not the RDC. Like the RDC it was long, stainless steel, and powered by twin diesel engines. The design was beset with mechanical problems, and Budd sold only 30 cars. From 1982 to 1984, Tokyu Car built 45 of a heavily specialized, meter-gauge RDC design for the Taiwan Railway