Coda Prices Its EV Sedan at a Whopping $44,900 - Promises "Real-World" 100 Mile Range

Coda Automotive officially put its 2011Coda EV on sale today and said the 5-passenger, 100-mile electric sedan will start at $44,900 before any applicable federal and local incentives.

That means the Coda will cost $300 more than the uplevel Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in and almost $11,000 more than the five-passenger Nissan Leaf EV that is likely to be its chief competitor.

The Santa Monica, Calif.-based startup, which has raised more than $125 milion in private capital, initially will sell its cars in California only.

Coda has re-engineered and re-fitted a Chinese-built sedan with help from Porsche Engineering and a cadre of U.S. and Chinese suppliers including electric motors and controllers from Colorado's UQM Technologies and an EV transmission from Borg Warner.

Coda marketing director Michael Jackson, who headed North American marketing for General Motors in 2006 and part of 2007, said in an interview Monday that the price - which will be offset by a $7,500 federal tax credit and also would qualify for California's limited pool of $5,000 EV purchaser rebates - is justified because the Coda offers features the Leaf and Volt don't share.

Range 'n Recharge Advantages

Additionally, he said, Coda is aiming to deliver a luxury-car buying and after-sales customer support experience.

Chief competitive points of the car, he said are:

• "Real 90- to 120 mile range withough the climate-related variables Nissan acknowledges will be a factor in the Leaf's per-charge range. The Coda uses active thermal management for its battery pack, while the Leaf relies on ambient air cooling, making its batteries more susceptible to extremes of heat and cold. Additionally, the Coda's 34 kilowatt-hour battery pack is almost 42 percent larger than the Leaf's 24 kWh pack.
• Faster recharging times because the Coda's 6.6 kilowatt on-board charger can pull energy from the grid at a quicker rate than the Leaf's 3.3 kw charger. Jackson said the Coda system using a 240-volt Level 2 charging station can replace 40 miles of range in 2 hours and recharge a fully depleted battery in about 6 hours. Nissan has cited charging times in the 6- to 8-hour range while the Volt's much smaller 16 kWh battery wil take about 4 hours to charge on a Level 2 system.
• Zero emissions all the time - a claim GM cannot make for the Volt, which uses a small gasoline engine to generate electricity if the initial battery charge is depleted during a trip.
• Deluxe sales and after-sales service with a system designed to enable shoppers to take test drives without a salesman in the passenger seat and to complete the sales process - including financing - online. Cars will be delivered to customers' homes or offices by a "Coda Valet" who will be assigned to be the buyer's personal link to the company as long as he or she owns the car.

Easy Shopping

"We started this companty with a clean sheet," said Jackson, "and we studied companies like Saturn, smart, BMW Mini and Tesla. We wanted to create a model that focused on the tangible, like our real 100-mile range...but we also believe that the entire buying and ownership experience is part of creating value."

Most consumers have already used the Internet to do their comparison shopping and are ready to buy when they visit a dealership but still have to put up with a salesman while they take a test drive and haggle with managers and finance and insurance specialists while they are completing the purchase, Jackson said.

The entire buying process - except signing financing papers and final contracts - will be done on-line on Coda's Website. Sales launched today with Coda beginning to accept $499 deposits for cars that will be delivered in the fourth quarter. Deliveries are expected to ramp up in the first quarter and Coda has set a goal of 14,000 sales through the end of 2011.

Build to Order

Coda won't operate as a traditional car company with lots of cars in stock and Jackson said it typically will be 45 to 60 days from completion of a purchase agreement to delivery until the car is delivered.

While both GM and Nissan have announced three-year leasing deals for their electric-drive vehicles, Coda hasn't cemented its lease arrangements, Jackson said, adding that terms "will be competitive."

Coda intends to make the shopping process easier, he said, by placing its cars in "test-drive centers" located in major shopping malls and staffed by product specialists who can answer questions and explain the car but who aren't commissioned sales people.

There will be 17 such locations in California by the end of 2011, with the first set to open in January at the Century City mall in Los Angeles.

Jackson said Coda is working with mall operators Westfield Group and Simon Property Group.

Repair Network

Coda will have no dealerships, so no dealer service departments, but announced today that it has signed with a major retail department store chain that operates its own auto repair centers to sublet space in eight of its California locations for battery warranty centers that will be staffed by Coda engineers.

(Coda spokesman Darryll Harrison said the retailer asked that it not be identified, but gee, how many big shopping center retailers have their own auto repair facilities, usually right next to the key-making kiosk in the parking lot!)

Additionally, Jackson said Coda has signed a deal to train repair technicians at 20 Bridgestone/Firestone tire and auto repair centers in California to perform routine maintenance and repair work not involving the electric-drive system.

The company said it will begin marketing its cars in Hawaii at the end of 2011 and it is likely that similar maintenance and warranty repair system will operate there.

Now all that remains to be see is whether Coda CEO Kevin Czinger is correct in his belief that early EV buyers won't be all that price sensitive, even in an ongoing weak economy.