The design chosen was a "bathtub" type. While this was considered futuristic during the war and the concept was taken further with the 1949 Nash—and survived for decades in the Saab 92-96 in Europe—the 1948–1950 Packard styling was polarizing. To some it was sleek and blended classic with modern; others nicknamed it the "pregnant elephant". Test driver for "Modern Mechanix", Tom McCahill, referred to the newly designed Packard as "a goat" and "a dowager in a Queen Mary hat". Packard sold 92,000 vehicles for 1948 and 116,000 of the 1949 models, however in the early post-WWII years, the demand for new cars was extremely high and nearly any vehicle would sell. Attempting to maintain strong sales beyond this point would prove far more problematic.