HudsonJet

01

Origins

Hudson bet its future on the 1953 Jet, a compact at a moment when Americans were buying ever-bigger cars. The idea was defensible — Rambler had shown a market existed — but the execution doomed it: company president A.E. Barit insisted on tall 'chair-high' seating that made the Jet look dumpy and dated, and building an all-new body pushed the price up to within reach of a full-size Chevrolet. Around 35,000 sold in two years. The tooling costs consumed the money that should have replaced the ageing step-down Hudsons, and by 1954 the company had no independent future left; it merged with Nash to form American Motors, and Hudson production moved to Kenosha. The Jet is a footnote as a car and a landmark as a lesson in betting a company on one product.