1950s American automobile culture
During the decade, many smaller manufacturers could not compete with the Big Three and either went out of business or merged. In 1954, American Motors was formed when Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation in a deal worth almost $200 million, the largest corporate merger in United States history at that time.
American Motors Corporation
The 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company, and the creation of American Motors, was led by George W. Mason to reap benefits from the strengths of the two firms to battle the much larger "Big Three" automakers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler).