While most U.S. automobile makers were following a "bigger-is-better" philosophy, Nash Motor Company executives were examining the market to offer American buyers an economical transportation alternative. The Metropolitan was designed in the United States and it patterned a concept car, the NXI (Nash Experimental International), that was built by William J. Flajole for Nash-Kelvinator. This prototype was displayed at a number of "surviews" (survey/previews) to gauge the reaction of the American motoring public to a car of this size. The result of these surviews convinced Nash that there was indeed a market for such a car, if it could be built at a competitive price. This meant that it would not be viable to build such a car from scratch in the U.S. because the tooling costs would have been prohibitive. The only cost-effective option was to build overseas using existing mechanical components, leaving only the tooling cost for body panels and other unique components.

With this in mind, Nash negotiated with several European companies, until settling on Austin in England (by then part of BMC). The bodywork was produced by Fisher & Ludlow (also a UK company), and the mechanicals as well as final assembly undertaken by the Austin Motor Company. This was the first time an American-designed car had been entirely built in Europe. The Metropolitan was available in two body designs - convertible and hardtop. All came with several standard features that were optional on most cars of the era. Among these production features were a map light, electric windshield wipers, and even a "continental-type" rear-mounted spare tire with cover.