And since then, most people have termed them "running lights" instead of "parking lights".
My M-B 300D's are even weirder. You can leave it with just the left-side parking lights on (or just the rights). Some strange signalling thing Germans must do. Problem is, to turn off all lights you must leave the rotary switch in the top position, not full left which will run down the battery. Personally, I see no value in being able to leave any lights on with the key out of the ignition, except maybe the hazard flashers.