Another electric car maker aims for California market

Add Coda Automotive to the list of companies that want to sell electric cars in California.

The Santa Monica-based company said today that it plans to begin selling a mid-size, all-electric sedan called — what else? — the Coda in California by the fall of 2010.

 Built in China by state-owned automaker Hafei, the car will sell for $45,000 and have a range of 90-100 miles on a single charge.

The list price is cheaper than the $57,400 Model S sedan that Tesla Motors Inc. is developing, although the Model S is designed to travel up to 160 miles per charge (higher-priced versions will have greater range) and is slated to be built in California. (Tesla has already delivered about 500 of its $109,000 Roadster sports cars.)

Buyers of both the Coda and the Model S would be eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit.

Coda Chief Executive Kevin Czinger said he hoped his car’s lower price would help put an electric vehicle within reach of more buyers.

“The Coda sedan is an all-electric vehicle for everyone,” Czinger said.

The car will be powered by a 330-volt lithium-ion battery produced by Tianjin Lishen Battery Joint-Stock Co. Coda said it has applied for U.S. government funding to build a battery plant in the U.S. in partnership with an American battery company.

Besides its unconventional power source, one of the Coda’s most unusual features is how strikingly ordinary it looks. It bears more than a passing resemblance to a Toyota Corolla or a Hyundai Sonata.

Part of that is due to the fact that the car is based on an existing Chinese car design. But Coda also made a conscious decision to avoid the flashy, “look at me” appearance that seems to characterize most advanced-powertrain designs.

In focus groups, “we found that people who had gas-powered vehicles brought up time and time again that they were interested in alternative options, but that the vehicles always look so weird,” Coda Marketing Director Kara Saltness said.

The Coda is already undergoing safety testing and the company hopes to have 200 in the hands of commercial test fleets in the U.S. by the middle of next year. Cars will be sold directly to the general public through the company’s website. It will begin taking orders in the fall and hopes to sell 2,700 cars in 2010.

No Chinese-built cars are currently sold in the U.S., and Coda hopes to overcome concerns about made-in-China quality by stressing its engineering partnership with Porsche and the fact that American engineers will be at the Hafei assembly plant overseeing production.

“This is a safe car and we will be responsible in the end for the quality,” Czinger said.

Coda is one of several companies besides Tesla vying to bring electric cars or plug-in hybrid vehicles to market, including big players like General Motors, Ford, Nissan and Toyota and smaller fry like Fisker Automotive.

Coda was founded by entrepreneur Miles Rubin, known for the Miles Electric Vehicles brand of low-speed electric fleet vehicles.

-- Martin Zimmerman

Photo of Coda sedan by Coda Automotive

Comments

[AutoWONK]

Thanks, GM, for your inept response to the electric/hybrid automobile market here in the U. S. Now we're going to have China selling the cars that American auto workers should be making and that American drivers want to buy. As that well known Russian comedian used to say, "What a country"!

[Biker]

Are they kidding? No fool would pay $45K for
one of these monstrosities. And that Fed subsidy only covers the first so many cars.

[Chevyll]

Another import from a commie county. What next........ But stupid Americans will buy it. Mark my words

[anon]

Coda needs to re-focus its focus groups.

A $45,000 car that only goes 90 miles on a charge (and I'll bet it comes up short of that in real world driving) will only be sold to hardcore "early adopters", not your average gasoline car drivin' Americans.

Early adopters don't want bland.

One of the smartest things Toyota did was to make the Prius look "different".

[MARK]

I will never buy a Chinese car & I hope no other American will buy one either. China's record on its products killing people and being poor quality make them the worst choice when purchasing anything.

[Rev. Dave]

Terrific styling! But $45K with a 100 mile range? No thanks.

[YO.YO]

45k for 100 mile doesnt look great, but, 3 cents for one drive mile, thats marvelous

[aaron]

Biker, you are correct, only a FOOL, would pay $45,000 for this electric car, consumers cannot afford these outrageous prices...they (all manfactures) need to come into the market at $7000, nope $5000 is better, then the goverment needs to built new power plants so we can fuel/charge these cars. The key for this to work is affordability for consumers, not outrageous profits for manufactures.

[bob]

I'd have to agree here and disagree with the focus group: i recall another Times article where they said the sales of Civic hybrids lacked because it looked like a Civic and not something cutting edge. Not to mention, 45K for a car that only goes 90 miles on a charge is hardly worth the money. People associate cheap with Chinese. I do too. So for me to overcome that perception and $$$ hurdle is more than I could justify. I'd rather buy a used diesel VW Golf or Passat than this.

[SEREN]

You guys have obviously not lived thru decades of 'I would never by that contraption' era after era haha. And 5-10 years later its totally mainstream! Everybody wants one and everybody owns one. I promise you that if GM can actually sell a BUICK to the chinese with open arms, the Chinese can sell hybrids to the USA with ease.
Give China till end of 2010, right around the corner and I promise you will be amazed how well they are selling their 'contraptions' from now vacant Chrysler & GM dealership lots to boot. What a world , what a world indeed.........

[Dan]

Consider this is an electric Corolla and that a Corolla can be bought for $30.000 less. And that a Corolla will go 200,000 miles on about $18,000 of gas at $3.00 a gallon, it does not make economic sense. The cost of this car has to drop below $30,000 to be viable. And I would not expect the battery pack in this car to last more than $100,000 miles.

Plus, I wonder what it uses for a heater. Because an electric car does not have enough waste heat to heat up the interior, even on a chilly day in LA. And AC will cut the range a fair bit.

[wcmillionairre]

Between lead-painted children's toys and poison-tainted pet foods, we must realize that Chinese products are not held to an acceptably high standard. Mssrs. Obama and Gaither better keep dancing to convince the Chinese to buy our debt and support our economy, but the fact is many Americans will NEVER buy Chinese products...for all the right reasons.

[David]

Another Death Trap. Cool. A car from China that uses no gas for 45k (probable profit margin of 50%). So then China can reduce the cost and increase consumption of fossil fuels. Sounds like the solution we need.

[AAlexander]

Of course the price is way too high. The electric motor has only one moving part compared to hundreds in a piston engine. An electric car should be much cheaper than a car powered by a piston engine. The bulk of the price is in the battery. The lithium ion battery is a step up from the lead acid caveman technology but the price needs to come down substantially.