History of the diesel car Its 1.3 L XL4D engine produces at 5,000 rpm. Following the 1970s oil crisis (1973 and 1979), Volkswagen introduced their first diesel, the VW Golf, with a 1.5 L naturally aspirated indirect-injection engine which was a redesigned (dieselised) version of a gasoline engine. Mercedes-Benz tested turbodiesels in cars (e.g. by the Mercedes-Benz C111 experimental and record-setting vehicles) and the first production turbo diesel cars were, in 1978, the 3.0 5-cylinder 115 hp (86 kW) Mercedes 300 SD, available only in North America, and the Peugeot 604. The biggest single step forward for mass-market diesel cars came in 1982 when PSA
History of the diesel car and finishing 13th, relying on torque and fuel efficiency to overcome weight and low peak power. In 1933, a 1925 Bentley with a Gardner 4LW engine was the first diesel-engine car to take part in the Monte Carlo Rally when it was driven by Lord Howard de Clifford. It was the leading British car and finished fifth overall. In 1952, Fred Agabashian in a Cummins diesel won the pole at the Indianapolis 500 race with a turbocharged 6.6-liter diesel car, setting a record for pole position lap speed, . Don Cummins and his chief engineer Neve Reiners recognized that the