A lighting unit for a motor vehicle having at least one light guide and at least one circuit board having at least one light-emitting diode. The circuit board and the light guide are attached to one another. The lighting unit is elongate and curved in the manner of a crescent with a light guide extending over the length of the lighting unit and with multiple elongated, rigid circuit boards that are each equipped with multiple light-emitting diodes, wherein the circuit boards are identically constructed and lined up in their longitudinal direction along the light guide in such a manner that the light of the light-emitting diodes can be coupled into the light guide perpendicularly to the longitudinal extent thereof, and wherein the circuit boards are connected to one another electrically and in terms of signaling by cables.