The 1950s economy facilitated strong markets for automobiles in all major nations. The United States continued to be the world’s largest market, and its major automakers basked in the success of their ever-larger cars. Henry Ford’s strategy of tapping popular demand with his low-priced cars seemed all but forgotten. However, the lesson had not been wasted on the West Germans. With their “people’s car” (developed before WWII), they staged a peacetime invasion of other European countries, and by the early 1950s, Volkswagen was enjoying success in the United States. American car manufacturers underestimated the threat from the German (and English and French) compacts and responded weakly by importing compacts of their European subsidiaries, like the Opel.