Nassau Motor Company - 2nd Gen 900 Revealed!

[MAG]

January 1st, 1946 – It is a brand new world. Four months ago, the Second World War came to an end. Much of Fruinia is still in ruins, even though the rebuilding process has already begun. While Archana has begun walling itself off from the western world, Gasmea is beginning to emerge as the world’s pre-eminent superpower.

Our story begins in Nassau, a large port city on the southern coast of Fruinia. Donald Gaul stands in the center of an empty husk of a factory. Prior to the war, this factory was the main hub of Gaul Refrigeration, Fruinia’s largest refrigerator manufacturer.

At the start of the war, the factory was taken over by the government and used to produce tanks for the Fruinian war effort. Miraculously, the factory was not destroyed during the Gasmean bombings. Now that there is no longer a Fruinian war effort to supply tanks for, the factory sits idle.

Mr. Gaul had made his fortune in refrigeration but being a savvy business man, he has set his sights on much larger things. He has decided to enter the automotive industry and has decided to convert the machines used to manufacture tanks to manufacture cars.

While workers are busy converting the factory, Donald sits in his office, pouring over economic graphs and sales numbers for the Fruinian automotive market.

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After a dip during the war, the world’s three major economies are beginning to rebound. Donald knows that in order to take over the automotive world, he’ll need to start in Fruinia. And to do that, he wants to hit right in the heart of the market. His company’s first new car will be a small family sedan.

His second decision is to name his new company after the city he was born in, the city he’s made his billions in, and the city he loves. His new company will be the Nassau Motor Company.

This will be the story of the Nassau Motor Company.

[MAG]

January 1st, 1947 – A whole year has gone by since Mr. Gaul embarked on his plan. Conversion work on his main factory is nearly complete.

During the course of the year, Donald realized that his main factory would be sufficient for the production of cars, but another location would be needed to manufacture engines. Donald has begun chipping away at his $2.5 billion fortune and now has a second factory to show for it. Luckily, this factory was purchased on the cheap as its previous owner had gone bankrupt during the war.

Engineering work on the car has begun. After consulting many of the publications that focus on the automotive industry, such as AutoDrift and Vehicle and Pilot, Donald has come up with a reliability and prestige benchmark that his car will need to hit.

Work has begun on the engine as well. The current plan is to utilize a 4 cylinder layout, but development is still in the early stages.

There has been one setback. After several meetings with his group of advisors, Donald has learned that there may not be a big enough margin in the small car market in order to turn a profit. After many more meetings with his advisors and his engineers, Donald has decided that the company’s first chassis will need to be versatile and will need to sell in a few more segments.

[MAG]

August 15th, 1947 – It has been an eventful seven and a half months for the Nassau Motor Company. Development of our first chassis continues and it appears that we’ll be building two versions of it in addition to the family sedan.

Mr. Gaul has been provided with estimates for the productivity of his factories, which are nearly ready to go online.

Car Factory Estimates

Engine Factory Estimates

We also have a prototype of our first engine, internally designated as the A18-4M. Here’s a breakdown of our engine code names.

A – First series of engines
18 – 1800cc/1.8L
-4 – 4 cylinder
M – Main (standard version to be used in our first car)

While the engine is still in development, it has been on the dyno and is producing a healthy 53 horsepower at 3,600 RPM and 91 ft-lbs of torque at 2,300 RPM.

Donald has also begun to set up his dealer network. This is where another wrench has been thrown into the mix. His new dealers argue that while a sedan will be the bread and butter of the company’s sales, it more than likely won’t bring customers into showrooms. The company would need something fun and sexy. Dealers have coined the term “halo car”. Donald has told his dealers that he would consider it and let them know his decision soon.

[MAG]

December 31st, 1947 – With the year drawing to a close, the optimistic new world that began with the end of the war may have hit a stumble. After a brief boom, purchasing power across all three major markets has begun to drop significantly.

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Sales across the entire Fruinian market haven’t seen as significant of a drop, but remained relatively flat.

Big developments have been made on our first chassis. The three versions have been finalized. There will be a family sedan, a city/commuter coupe, and a light delivery van. All three versions will use our A18-4M engine.

We also now have a target date for bringing the vehicle to market. The current plan is to have the car on sale in July 1949 as a 1950 model.

We also plan to debut the car at the 1949 Fruinian International Auto Show, held on February 1st, 1949. We expect all three models to debut and will have the finalized information about every trim level available.

In other news, Mr. Gaul has come to an agreement with his dealer network. Two additional factories have been purchased and the conversion process has begun. We will be building a second model which will be a light sports car. While sales of this model aren’t expected to be huge, this car should draw people into our dealerships who will then leave with a more sensible sedan.

Our next update should be from the Fruinian Auto Show.

[MAG]

February 15, 1949 - We’re on the floor of the 1949 Fruinian Auto Show to debut the first car from the Nassau Motor Company. We now present, the 1950 Nassau Metropolitan!

The brand new 1950 Nassau Metropolitan Sedan can seat 5 people in comfort, riding on an 83" wheelbase. At 142" in overall length, this is the perfect car for a family living in the compact cities of Fruinia.

Powered by Nassau’s 53hp A18-4M 4 cylinder engine mated to a 4 speed manual transmission, this 1,600 pound sedan is also efficient, returning over 28mpg.

But, we haven’t only come to this show with a sedan. What about the young businessman trying to land that big new client to impress his boss and land that big promotion? Well, for him we present the 1950 Nassau Metropolitan Business Coupe!

The Nassau Metropolitan Business Coupe retains the handsome looks and efficiency of the sedan, but features an upgraded premium interior, which seats 2 adults.

And finally, with an economy beginning to emerge from the ruins of the war, we know Fruinia needs a new vehicle to provide goods to the people of its cities. We at Nassau have the perfect solution in the 1950 Nassau Metropolitan Delivery!

All three vehicles will go on sale July 1st, 1949. Pricing information will be released closer to that date. Thank you for stopping by the Nassau Motor Company booth!

[MAG]

June 30, 1949 - This is a big evening for the Nassau Motor Company. As his factory hums building his company’s first car, Donald Gaul his invited his executive team for a small get together at his company headquarters.

Tomorrow marks the day that his new company’s first car, the 1950 Nassau Metropolitan goes on sale at 45 dealers across the country of Fruinia.

Nassau is aiming at three different markets with the Metropolitan.

The Metropolitan Sedan will be the bread and butter of the lineup and starts at a price of $7,274.

The Metropolitan Coupe aims at the growing market for the businessman’s coupe and starts at a price of $8,097.

The Metropolitan Delivery is aimed at couriers and starts at a price of only $6,826.

Sales projections are a little lower than initially expected but the feeling remains positive at the company.

Earlier in the day engineers began tests on the final version of the A18-4T. This is a slightly re-tuned version of the A18-4M engine used in the Metropolitan. This version is tuned more for performance, utilizing a higher compression ratio, a revised camshaft profile, and can rev slightly higher - to 4,200 rpm. The big new features are a twin-carb setup with performance intakes and a larger single muffler exhaust.

These changes increase power from 53 in the M configuration to 68 and torque from 91 ft-lbs to 96.

The plan for a “halo” car has begun to take shape. A lot of engineering work has already gone into the new project and now that the engine’s been finalized, a clear timeline has begun to come together.

This new car will debut at the 1950 Fruinian Auto Show and sales will begin in late 1950. No more information is currently available.

So with that, Donald will get back to his guests and prepare for (hopefully), the beginning of an automotive empire.

[MAG]

October 1, 1949 - The Metropolitan has now been on sale for three months. We’ve managed to add 2 dealers, bringing our total to 47. There is one stand alone Nassau dealership. The remainder are dealers who sell many different car brands.

The car went on sale at 9:00am on July 1, 1949 and the first one was purchased by John Manolis at Nassau’s single stand alone dealer on Medicci Ave in Nassau. Mr. Manolis purchased a maroon sedan with a white interior. Over the course of the month, a total of 10,734 Metropolitans were sold. During August and September, sales have slowly increased, bringing us to a total of 33,482 cars sold at the end of quarter 3.

Sales were as follows:

Unfortunately for Mr. Gaul, these sales were no where near the projected numbers. While the above graph is trending in the correct direction, the company posted losses in all three months of the quarter. We end the month sitting on the following inventory.

Sedan: 68 days
Coupe: 22 days
Delivery: 119 days

Due to the losses and inventory buildup, there has been some cost cutting on our new project, which may be facing delays. Also, Donald has cut the factories back to a single daily shift.

Nassau is hoping for some positive changes in the 4th quarter of the year.

[MAG]

January 1, 1950 - Six months are in the books and there have been some positive and negative happenings at Nassau Motor Company.

Firstly, we made a small profit in November. However, sales were down across the board in December. There is hope that once more people are aware of our cars, sales will rise and we will become profitable.

A small note here. The game seems to count December sales as part of the next year, hence the difference in “Total Cars Sold” and my sales graphs. For this playthrough, I will be using my sales numbers as the official numbers.

We ended the year with 68,573 total cars sold. Sales ticked up for each month for every model until December. A rather harsh winter has descended upon Fruinia, causing the drop. Our sales numbers are below.

Even running at only a single daily shift the amount of inventory we’re currently sitting on has increased for the Sedan and Coupe. Interestingly, it has dropped for the Delivery.

Sedan: 94 days
Coupe: 57 days
Delivery: 70 days

We were presented with our year end report, which is below. Remember: December’s numbers do not figure into this report.

Looking ahead to 1950, there are some positive and negative things to note.

If the harsh winter continues, we will continue to lose money, but if sales can rebound to the level we attained in November we can be profitable.

Awareness of our cars continues to slowly increase. Adding a second model will only help us out. Unfortunately, even though we will be displaying a prototype of our new car at the Fruinian Auto Show, a consumer version won’t be ready for at least 8 months.

The next report shows where each of our sales comes from (December).

And finally, here is a market overview, which shows a small increase across the board.

According to the following economic graphs, the recession we’ve been in since 1947 is beginning to flatten out.

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Our next entry should be from the floor of the 1950 Fruinian Auto Show.

[MAG]

February 14, 1950 - We’re at the 1950 Fruinian Auto Show to debut the second car from the Nassau Motor Company. Presenting, the 1951 Nassau Tiger roadster!

The 1951 Nassau Tiger is our entry into the emerging convertible/roadster market. The nimble Tiger rides on an 81" wheelbase and its super-light body makes it the perfect car to tackle the twisty mountain roads of Fruinia.

The Tiger is powered by Nassau’s all-new 68hp A18-4T 4 cylinder engine. This new engine features a performance twin-carbureted intake, which ups power by over 25% from the standard engine found in the Metropolitan.

The new engine can bring the Tiger to a top speed of nearly 110mph. A 4 speed manual transmission with sports gearing will bring the roadster up to 60mph in 13 seconds flat. The quarter mile flies by in 19.6 seconds at 76mph.

So, stop by your local Nassau dealer this October to check it out for yourself. And if you decide the Tiger’s a little too much, give our Metropolitan Coupe a try!

[Oskiinus]

I like this idea pretty much.

[MAG]

Thanks for reading. I have some big plans that I hope come to fruition.

October 1, 1950 - Bad news has hit Nassau dealers. The Tiger roadster has been delayed yet again. The car will now go on sale in January 1951. Workers have been having trouble getting the factories ready to produce the vehicle.

A small factory in the “Flats” section of the city of Nassau will be producing the chassis while another small factory we purchased in East Nassau will supply the engines.

We also now have final projections for the total cost of the Tiger project.

I just realized that I never posted the total cost of the Metropolitan project, so here is that as well.

But anyway, enough of the behind the scenes action, the real action is on the sales floor at our dealerships. Sales continue to rise and the Metropolitan has become profitable*! Since March of 1950 sales have turned a profit each consecutive month.
(* - monthly)

Here are the current sales numbers for 1950.

And now that we finally have something to compare it to, here are our year over year sales numbers (total sales only).

As of October 1st, we’ve sold 113,921 Sedans, 20,587 Coupes, and 41,291 Deliveries for a total of 175,799 cars. There are three months left in the 1950 model year.

Inventory does continue to build up, but not at an alarming rate. Once more people become aware of our brand, this number should begin to stabilize or drop.

Sedan: 126 days
Coupe: 42 days
Delivery: 112 days

And now we prepare for the final quarter of 1950. Workers are putting final touches on our two new factories to begin production of the Tiger. Our marketing team is currently working on advertising for the new car. Our dealers are hoping for a mild winter this year so sales don’t drop like last December.

All in all, things are looking up at Nassau!

[MAG]

January 1, 1951 - Today is the day. Our brand new 1951 Nassau Tiger roadster hits the dealership floor. With a starting price of $8,471, the nimble two seater is nearly $400 more expensive than our next highest priced car. However, Donald and all of the executives at Nassau feel that the increased foot traffic and excitement about the car will offset anyone put off by the price. Marketing has released their ad campaign for the Tiger.

Tear up the Alps, no skis required!

The sales year also begins for the 1951 Nassau Metropolitan. All three models have seen steady increases in sales and due to the very high reliability of the vehicles, word is beginning to spread about Nassau.

Here are our final sales numbers for 1950.

All told, we sold 146k cars this year. When added to the previous year’s early model run, sales numbers for the 1950 Nassau Metropolitan shake out as follows.

1950 Sedan: 138,994
1950 Coupe: 26,258
1950 Delivery: 49,923
Total Sold: 215,175

Over 200k cars! Each month Nassau is returning a larger and larger profit, much to the delight of Mr. Gaul.

We finished the year with the following inventory (which will be referred to as 1951 models for reporting purposes).

Sedan: 137 days
Coupe: 14 days
Delivery: 118 days

Here are the sales over the course of the year.

The sedan saw a slight downturn in December but still stayed above the 8,000 unit mark. The slight drop was more than made up for by the coupe, which saw sales increase by 50%.

Year over year total sales are shown below.

So finally, we’ve reached the end of another year. Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Reputation continued to rise, based on our excellent engineering of the Metropolitan chassis. Prestige dropped again in 1950, but not as much due to an increase in Coupe sales. After taxes were paid, we show a profit of $3 million!

The head of market research has presented Mr. Gaul with his final 1950 report.

Awareness of Nassau is beginning to rise at a rapid pace. The introduction of the Tiger should help us expand into the sporting market.

Here is a breakdown of where our sales came from in December of 1950.

And here is the current market situation for Fruinia.

As you can see, it looks like this small recession is coming to an end. This bodes very well for the Metropolitan Coupe. Production may have to be adjusted to keep the car in stock as the money is beginning to flow. This also makes for a fantastic time to introduce our new roadster.

The final pages of the current state of the economy.

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And so concludes 1950. With no new models currently on the horizon, we’ll only be displaying our current cars at the 1951 Fruinian Auto Show. So we’ll check back in at some point early in the year.

[MAG]

July 10, 1951

Donald Gaul furiously slams a copy of the July issue of Fruinian Motoring, opened to page 41, onto the desk of Peter Blake. Peter was hired by Don in 1946 as an engineer to work on the Metropolitan project. Don was so impressed that in 1948 he put him in charge of the Tiger project.

Development of the Tiger did not go smoothly. The roadster was delayed numerous times before finally going on sale in January of 1951. Now, six months later, the sales numbers have come in and the results are not good.

While the Metropolitan continues to sell more and more each month, the Tiger has struggled out of the gate. Through six months, the Tiger has managed to sell only 2,649 units. That’s one more car than the Metropolitan Coupe totaled in June alone.

From the Fruinian Motoring article:
“Nassau’s new roadster continues to struggle to gain a foothold in the market. Going on sale in January, returns to this point have been dismal. The Tiger has an interesting problem. It is too expensive to be a cheap, fun roadster and it is too cheap to be a premium sports tourer. We’ve gotten word that a 5% price drop will be in place from July onwards, bringing the sticker price down to $8,152. However, that may not be enticing enough to jump start sales. With few optional extras and a clunky four cylinder, the Tiger is outclassed in every way by its only major competition, the ZAC 2700. The 2700 is much quicker than the Tiger, thanks to its 2700cc straight six engine and it’s also much more pleasant to drive with an upscale interior featuring a wonderful AM radio. We’re unsure of what, if any, changes Nassau plans for next year’s Tiger. If something drastic isn’t done, the Tiger may go the way of the Dodo.” - Arnold Jacobs, Fruinian Motoring

After a 30 minute shouting match in Peter’s closed office, Don emerges and leaves for the day, hoping that the price drop can save his company’s new car.

[MAG]

January 3, 1952 - The year has come to a close.

The Metropolitan has become a huge success for the company, helping us rake in profits of nearly $140 million. Unfortunately, the Tiger is still struggling to find traction in the marketplace even with its price drop. The clock has struck midnight for Peter Blake as he has been let go by the company.

Filling the role of Head of Product Development will be Roger Gaul, Donald’s son. Roger worked as an engineer on both the Metropolitan and Tiger. Roger’s first task will be determining if the Tiger is worth keeping around or if a new product should take its place.

A breakdown of our sales in December.

Awareness of our brand continues to rise.

Sales continue to rise, specifically in the premium categories as the economy is doing very well.

Our sales rose steadily throughout the year before flattening off in December.

We’re now selling over 9,000 Metropolitan Sedans per month and in July we sold over 15,000 cars total.

All together, this year we sold 178,667 cars. That’s up 32,000 from the previous year. Here’s a look at our year over year numbers.

And finally, let’s look at some charts for our current products. Up first is the Metropolitan. While sales may appear to have dropped, please note that cars sold in 1949 were designated as 1950 models.

The Tiger was new for 1951.

And finally, we ended the year with the following inventory.

Metropolitan
Sedan: 90 days
Coupe: 27 days
Delivery: 123 days

Tiger
Convertible: 372 days

Plans for 1952 include further reduction in production for the Tiger, as well as a possible replacement.

[MAG]

July 2, 1952 - Fruinia is in the grips of a massive heatwave. The weather isn’t the only thing that’s hot though. Sales at Nassau dealers are taking off.

The Metropolitan continues to be the backbone of the company. Sales of the Sedan continue a steady rise. The Coupes have been flying off the lots though. Within the next month or two, the Coupe should become our second best selling vehicle. At the end of July, it sold just 14 fewer units than the Delivery. The Coupe surpassed 3,000 sales for the first time in May, and the Delivery hit that mark in February.

Things aren’t all rosy at Nassau however. Big changes have hit the Nassau Flats plant in the form of layoffs. The plant has been reduced to a single 1/2 shift per day as sales of the Tiger are no where near the initial projections.

The Tiger is finally making a profit. In January, the model brought in a $600k profit, which has slightly increased each month since.

Here are our sales for the first half of 1952.

Robert Gaul, the new head of product development currently has his team analyzing the marketplace. The head of the company, Donald Gaul - who is also his father, wants a proposal for the company’s next car. We’ll check back in a few months when the data has been put together.

[MAG]

January 5, 1953 - Another year draws to a close at Nassau. Let’s take a look at our finances.

We had a slight drop in both reputation and prestige. The drop in reputation comes from the Tiger roadster and the drop in prestige comes from increased sales of the Metropolitan Sedan.

Revenues totaled $1.45 billion and with costs and taxes figured in, we made a net profit of $243.6 million. With such high revenues, Robert feels it’s time to start re-investing that money into research and development. After hearing his son’s proposal, Donald agreed. A plot of land north of the city of Versailles has been purchased. Nassau will be constructing a new research and testing center. This facility should be open by the middle of 1954.

As you can see above, the Nassau Metropolitan is currently one of the most reliable cars on the market. Unfortunately, people don’t hold it in a very high regard.

Now we move on to a breakdown of our December sales.

Market awareness of Nassau is still on the upswing. The Tiger is slowly making a dent in the convertible market and the Metropolitan is making a big splash in the family and city markets.

Overall, the market is currently on the rise. The biggest gains have been seen in the premium and luxury categories. Unfortunately, we don’t have an entry in those markets.

Below is our sales graph for 1952, which continued the steady rise from 1951. December was a rough month for the Metropolitan Sedan and Coupe as they both suffered a somewhat drastic drop in sales.

Here are our year over year totals. This year we sold 195,444 cars, an increase of nearly 17,000 from the previous year. The increase was much smaller than the increase from 1950 to 1951 (down about 50%). This can be attributed to yet another harsh Fruinian December.

With the model year wrapping up, here’s a look at our current products. The Metropolitan has now sold over half a million units. Sales this year increased 9% in total, led by a 13.5% increase in Coupe sales. Sales of the Delivery remained relatively flat. We still have not hit the sales number of the extra long 1950 model year.

The 5% price drop for the Tiger helped sales increase 20%. The car is now making money for the company but is still considered a disappointment.

We ended 1952 with the following inventory.

Metropolitan
Sedan: 15 days
Coupe: 26 days
Delivery: 116 days

Tiger
Convertible: 301 days

[MAG]

January 15, 1953

Robert Gaul and his product development team have finished their future products proposal and it is ready to be presented to Donald.

Nassau currently has enough money to develop one chassis. Robert has given three options to use the development funds on.

Option 1 - Replace the Metropolitan
While the Metropolitan has only been on sale for three model years, its development dates back seven years to 1946. With a development time of approximately three years, the engineering of the chassis will be ten years old by the time it’s replaced. Robert doesn’t want the car to age to the point where it’s no longer relevant in the marketplace.

Donald, perhaps holding the Metropolitan in a very high regard since it was his company’s first car isn’t too thrilled with the prospect of replacing it. It’s the backbone of the company and sales are still increasing. Why fix what isn’t broken? Also relations between Fruinia and Archana are beginning to blossom and Donald feels that the current car would work well behind the Iron Curtain.

Option 2 - Replace the Tiger
The Tiger has been a disappointment since its debut. Engineering took longer than expected with several delays and the car has had a tough time finding a market. It’s too expensive to be cheap and too cheap to be expensive.

Donald agrees, but isn’t sure that throwing money into a new Tiger would be worth the investment, at least not yet. It’s likely that the only way to build a new roadster would be to start from scratch. Our current A18-4T isn’t powerful enough to satisfy the new premium buyers and it is too costly to put into a budget sports car. One thing Donald does suggest is to put the A18-4T into a new version of the Metropolitan Coupe, creating a sort of “Super Coupe”. Robert notes that this may be a possibility. Engineering wouldn’t take as long since the chassis and engine are already available. However he does make the point that the current Coupe is already successful in the market. Why go after the same market twice?

Option 3 - A New Chassis
The third option is to develop an entirely new chassis. This would allow the company to expand its footprint in the marketplace. Robert sees that there are really two ways to go with this. We could develop a premium car since the market there has recently exploded or we could develop a commercial vehicle to replace or compliment the Metropolitan Delivery.

Donald likes this idea, especially developing a premium car. He knows that Nassau isn’t currently a prestigious nameplate and would like to change that. He just isn’t sure that the current growth in the market is sustainable. What if, after three to four years of engineering time the car launches into a market that no longer exists? When it comes to developing a commercial vehicle, Donald is a little more frosty on the idea. This would only add to the problems of perception with the Nassau name. He really doesn’t want it associated with dirty trucks. We also don’t currently have an engine that would be sufficient for such a vehicle. With his final argument, Robert notes that the commercial market is very large and will always exist because goods need to be transported.

With that, Robert and his team leave Donald’s office. Donald now has a lot to think about. We’ll check back in during the summer to see what direction Nassau takes.

[MAG]

February 4, 1953 - After carefully reviewing the options and seeing the January sales numbers for the company, a decision has been reached by Donald.

Firstly, he will NOT replace the Metropolitan. Even though sales numbers are down from last year, the car is still moving enough units to justify keeping it around for the foreseeable future.

Second, the Tiger will be sticking around. With the lowered production numbers, the car is making a slight profit for the company and sinking more costs into developing a replacement more suitable to the marketplace isn’t in the company’s best interests at the time.

So Nassau will be producing a new model. Work on new factories has already begun. The new factories will be located adjacent to our new testing facility at the North Versailles site.

May 18, 1953 - Our engineers have determined that our current engines are not sufficient for the new vehicle being planned. Work has begun on a new version of our A series 4 cylinder engine.

In other news, Fruinia is buzzing after an announcement from Prime Minister Steven Grant. In September, he will be traveling to Archana to meet with Premier Zhurov Romanovich. This is planned to simply be a diplomatic trip, but this is big news. This will be the first formal meeting between the two countries since the end of World War II. Perhaps this could lead to trade relations between the two countries, which would be big for Nassau.

July 4, 1953 - Sales numbers are in for the first two quarters of 1953 and Donald isn’t happy. Sales are down from 1952 and have remained relatively flat for the first six months of the year. On the plus side, we’re getting inventory under control and no longer have massive lots of unsold cars.

Sales are currently below the level they were at this time last year. No changes are going to be made at this time, but if these trends continue something may need to happen.

Here’s a look at our year over year numbers.

As you can see, we still haven’t recovered from the sales drop last December. Sales are still rising each month, but not at the same rate as in previous years.

In development news, work on our new chassis continues. We will be using a new rear suspension setup with this model. Also, the new engine is starting to take shape. We will still be using the same block as our current line up but this version will be bored and stroked as large as we can go. There will be more news on this before the end of the year.

[MAG]

January 3, 1954 - Thankfully 1953 has drawn to a close. 1953 was a rough year for Nassau.

Sales were down across the board this year. Add in the fact that we’re currently engineering a new model, and the costs associated with that, the company lost $200 million.

We ended the year with just over 188,000 cars sold, down 7,200 from 1952. After pouring over the sales numbers, Robert fears he may have been right about the Metropolitan. Sales tanked in December when rival car maker McNamara introduced their new Swift family sedan. Perhaps the market is beginning to leave the Metropolitan behind.

After sales of our Sedan had risen back up to mid 1952 levels, we had a disastrous December as sales fell be nearly 2,000 units. The Coupe fared the best of the _Metropolitan_s, only dropping by 200 units. Sales of the Delivery fell by nearly 50%. As the economy ramps up and more and more goods need to be transported, people seem to be finding that the Delivery doesn’t meet their needs. Fortunately for us, our new chassis is a commercial delivery vehicle which will better suit the market than our current offering. Unfortunately, it won’t be ready for quite some time.

Our yearly chart shows the dramatic December drop pretty well. Nassau has gone from a sales high of 17,029 units in November 1952 to a measly 12,677 in December. This was our lowest sales total since August 1950.

On the plus side, sales of the Tiger hit an all time high of 683 units.

1953 was our second worst sales year ever, beating only 1949. 1949 however, was a shortened sales year and only included July through December.

Awareness of Nassau continues to rise, mainly in the City and Commuter markets. The Tiger just isn’t gaining any traction in the marketplace.

The entire market was relatively flat this year. The short boom of 1952 didn’t last as long as we had hoped it would.

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Nassau is currently planning for the lowered sales trend to continue, hoping we can weather the storm in 1954. We do have a profitable sports car and may need to make some shift adjustments at our Nassau factories if things get bad enough.

We do plan to test our new engine for the first time in March, as long as development remains on schedule. Development on the chassis continues, but is too early to have anything tangible to show. Therefore we will be skipping the Fruinian Auto Show again in 1954.

We’ll check back sometime in the middle of the year to see how things develop.

[MAG]

July 15, 1954 - The optimism that Nassau was feeling at this point last year has disappeared. New vehicles have debuted in the family sedan and light delivery markets, causing a hefty drop in our sales. With some production line changes and shift reductions we are still keeping our heads above water, but barely.

Sales are flat. In the case of the Metropolitan Delivery, they’re actually declining. Luckily, head of product development, Robert Gaul saw this coming. Our engineers are hard at work on our new delivery vehicle chassis. However, development takes time and we’re over a year away from production.

Unless sales begin to pick up, we’re looking down the barrel at our worst full year of sales in the history of the company.

We have opened our new Research and Development Center in North Versailles. We’re now spending a half a million per month researching ways to make our vehicles better.

Our engine development team is about to hit a big milestone. Next week our new engine will hit the dyno for the first time. The new unit, dubbed the A24-4C is expected to hit approximately 80 horsepower, a 30 hp gain from our standard A18-4M and nearly 15 more than the twin carb version used in the Tiger.

In other news, trade talks between Fruinia and Archana have stalled for the time being. Early estimates of a deal in 1955 appear to have been very optimistic, though experts expect some kind of deal before the end of the decade.

Donald Gaul will be leaving at the end of July for his yearly holiday. Rather than spend his holiday along the Riviera in southern Fruinia or taking in old time London in the north, Donald will be heading to Gasmea for the month of August. His trip will begin on the east coast in New York and end on the west coast in Los Angeles. He’s decided he needs some time away from Nassau and the day to day of his business and Gasmea is the place to go.