At a time in automotive history when American manufacturers were consistently making every new model bigger and more elaborate than the last, Nash dared to be different. After creating the well-received concept car called the NXI, as well as several other concept and prototype vehicles, Nash believed that a small, efficient car could be successful amongst the sea of large cars being offered by Ford, GM, and Chrysler. In 1953, Nash put the redeveloped NKI concept into production, and starting in 1954, the car would be marketed as the Metropolitan. Interestingly enough, this would be the first car designed by an American company to be manufactured overseas for the United States, and Metropolitan sales were counted against England’s war debt to the United States.
