the Honda Beat and Suzuki Cappuccino, and even miniaturised MPVs. In 1953, in Japan Hino entered the private car market, by manufacturing the Renault 4CV under licence. Also, in 1953 the Fiat 1100 in Italy was completely redesigned as a compact four-door sedan, with a modern monocoque bodywork and integrated front lights. While economy cars flourished in Europe and later Japan, the booming postwar American economy combined with the emergence of the suburban and interstate highways in that country led to slow acceptance of small cars. Brief economic recessions saw interest in economical cars wax and wane. During the early 1950s, the independent lower volume American auto manufacturers launched new 'small' cars. They were designed to be smaller than contemporary American cars, but would still have mainstream appeal, because they could still accommodate five passengers comfortably with conventional engineering and FR layout, establishing the American sized 'Compact car'. Nash Motors launched the Nash Rambler and Kaiser-Frazer introduced the Henry J in 1950. Willys-Overland (the designers of the Second World War Jeep MB) the Willys Aero in 1952, and Hudson the 1953 Hudson Jet. This niche market avoiding competition with the 'Big Three' of GM, Ford and Chrysler was not large enough to sustain all these competing models. They were priced too near the cost of a base model full sized car from the big three, that in the 1950s had a price war. US Fuel prices during this period were very low and the maintenance costs of the compacts were almost as much as full sized cars, so total running cost were not that much cheaper. Only the Nash Rambler made it to a second generation. The losses caused to the other car makers initiated the succession of mergers that eventually resulted in the American Motors Corporation (AMC). Nash also contracted with British Motor Corporation to build the American designed Metropolitan using existing BMC mechanical components, (the 1.5 Liter engine is a BMC B-Series engine also used in larger sizes in the MG MGA and MG MGB). Imported cars began to appear on the U.S. market during this time to satisfy the demands for true economy cars. An initial late 1940s–early 1950s success in a small way, was the monocoque Morris Minor launched in 1948, with its miniaturized Chevrolet styling. It was underpowered for the long distance roads of the U.S. and especially the freeways that were starting to spread