across the country in the 1950s. The first British Motorway did not open until 1959. BMC preferred to develop the higher profit margin MGs for the American market and also worked with Nash and so passed on the opportunity. From the mid-1950s the Volkswagen Beetle using clever and innovative advertising and capitalising on its very high build quality, durability and reliability, was a spectacular success. Having been designed for cruising the autobahns, freeways were no problem for it. It disproved the scepticism of American buyers as to the usefulness of, by their standards, such small cars. In 1955 VW launched the Beetle-based Italian styled Karmann Ghia coupé, that was developed from a 1953 concept car. Production doubled soon after its introduction, becoming the car most imported into the U.S, with more than 445,000 imported. Initially the stylish Renault Dauphine derived from the Renault 4CV, looked like it would follow the VWs footsteps, but then was a failure due to mechanical breakdowns and body corrosion. This failure on the U.S. market in the late 1950s, may have harmed the acceptance of small cars generally in America. In 1955, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry set a goal to all Japanese makers to create what was called a "national car" that was larger than the kei car. This influenced Japanese automobile manufacturers to focus their product development efforts for the smaller kei cars, or the larger "national cars". The concept stipulated that the vehicle be able to maintain a maximum speed over 100 km/h (62 mph), weigh below 400 kg (882 lbs), fuel consumption at or more, at an average speed of 60 km/h (37 mph) on a level road, and not require maintenance or significant service for at least . This established a "compact car" class, that is by far the most popular in Japan due to tax benefits stipulated by Japanese government regulations. One of the first compact cars that met those requirements was the FR layout Toyota Publica with a flat twin engine, and the RR layout Mitsubishi 500. The Publica and the Mitsubishi 500 were essentially "kei cars" with engines larger than regulations permitted at the time. In the late 1950s the DDR German Democratic Republic produced its 'peoples' car'. The Trabant sold 3 million vehicles in thirty years due to its communist captive market. It had a transverse two-cylinder air-cooled two-stroke engine and front-wheel drive,