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In 1919 Hudson introduced the Essex brand line of automobiles; the line originally was Hudson's line for middle class auto buyers, designed to compete with Ford and Chevrolet, as opposed to the more up-scale Hudson line.

One of Hudson's most famous cars was the Terraplane produced between 1932 and 1938, first as Essex-Terraplane in 1932-1933, and then as Terraplane until 1938.

The company had a number of 'firsts' for the auto industry. These included the self starter, dual brakes, and the first balanced crankshaft, which allowed the Hudson straight-6 engine to work at a higher rotational speed while remaining smooth, developing more power than lower-revving engines. Most Hudsons had straight-6 engines.

At its peak in 1929, 300,000 cars were produced in one year - Hudson and Essex combined - including contributions from Hudson's other factories in Belgium, England and Canada.

Hudson ceased auto production from 1942 until 1945 in order to manufacture war materials during World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, including aircraft parts and naval engines.

After the war, Hudson initially did quite well, and their late-1940s low and rounded "step-down" styling, which lasted through the 1954Events January events January 14 The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator forming the American Motors Corporation January 14 Marilyn Monroe weds Joe DiMaggio. January 15 Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya January 20 The Nati model yearThe model year of a product is a number used to describe approximately when a product was produced. The model year and the actual year of production don't always coincide, however. For instance, in the United States, automobile model years traditionally s, was ahead of its time when introduced, and quite aerodynamic for the era. This, the Hudson's light weight, and its well-built engine made the sportiest model, the Hudson Hornet, a successful auto racingAuto racing (also known as automobile racing or autosport is a sport involving racing automobiles. Motor racing or motorsport may also mean Motorcycle racing. It is one of the world's most popular spectator sports and perhaps the most thoroughly commercia contender, dominating NASCARThe National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing NASCAR was cofounded by William H. France and Ed Otto in 1948 in the USA. Officially incorporated on February 21, its purpose was to organize and promote the sport of stock car racing on sanctioned high-s in 1951, 1952 and 1953. Later, these cars met with some success in drag racingDrag racing is a form of auto racing in which cars attempt to complete a fairly short, straight and level course in the shortest amount of time. Drag racing originated in the United States and is still most popular there. The most common distance is one q, where their high power-to-weight ratio worked to their advantage.

Like many other smaller North American auto manufacturers, Hudson found it increasingly difficult to compete with the Big Three ( Ford, GMGM redirects here. This article is about General Motors . For other uses, see GM (disambiguation). General Motors Corporation also known as GM is a United States-based automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevro and ChryslerThe Chrysler Corporation is a United States-based automobile manufacturer. History The company was formed by Walter Chrysler on June 6, 1925, with the remaining assets of Maxwell Motor Company. In 1928 Chrysler founded the De Soto brand at the medium-high) during the 1950s. Those large companies could afford constant development and styling changes, so that their cars looked fresh every year (even if less changed beneath the surface), whereas the smaller manufacturers could only afford gradual change. They could not keep up with the churning of automotive fashion, and sales slipped. Merger was seen as the only way to survive at all, even if much of the individual makers' character would be lost.

On January 14, 1954, Hudson merged with Nash Motors to become American Motors. The Hudson factory was closed, and the remaining years of Hudson production consisted essentially of Nash cars with Hudson badging, dubbed "Hashes" by some.

The brand name was discontinued at the end of the 1957 production year.