Coda Cars brings Sedan EV back at 'substantial discount'

Proving once again that final acts in the EV world are rarely 100-percent, you know, final, check out this bit of surprising news: The Coda Sedan is back. Sort of.

The original Coda Automotive company, after declaring bankruptcy, shifted to become a grid energy provider. An announcement on the new Coda Cars website says that two organizations, Club Auto Sales and Ready Remarketing, have bought the leftover stock of Sedan EVs from Coda and will now "offer them for sale at a substantial discount." How much? We put that question to Rick Curtis, a former Coda dealer and the man behind Ready Remarketing. "I can't disclose the price on the full vehicles because we don't want to upset the market for the current owners," Curtis told AutoblogGreen, but he did say, just like the website, that the leftover EVs are available at a "substantial discount."

One glider, without a battery pack or BMS, is available for $7,500

Curtis said he and his partners bought 150 vehicles from Coda, 100 gliders and 50 full vehicles. Eleven of those 50 are export models with the bigger batteries (36 kWh vs. 31), so they are not legal for use in the US. The 36-kWh pack cars can be used on private campuses or sold overseas, however. To that end, Curtis said that Coda Cars is talking to a small number of buying groups interested in the whole lot, including some from Europe and South America. Despite secrecy over pricing and a non-disclosure agreement he signed with Coda to not talk about the deal that came out of the bankruptcy, Curtis could say that he is offering one glider, without a battery pack or BMS, for $7,500. That's, "a good deal for someone who wants to convert his own car, especially if he has batteries lying around," he said.

If you're interested in a Coda EV, a glider or parts – Curtis said he has a warehouse in Hayward, CA with about a million dollars in parts in it, things like the UQM Powerphase 100 motor used in the Sedan – head on over to Coda Cars for more information. Curtis said the plan is to sell other chargers and parts some day, and there is even "a possibility" of getting new battery packs for the car from Coda Energy some day. The surprises keep on coming.

News Source: Coda Cars via Coda Forum

Off radar, Coda now dealing with multiple supplier lawsuits

Another ominous sign for Coda Automotive: multiple lawsuits filed by suppliers who claim they are owed money. This comes after Coda laid off about 50 employees in December and then furloughed a few more in January, news has surfaced of four lawsuits filed since June of last year.

EDAG Group, an engineering firm, filed its lawsuit last June and said Coda owed it $608,770. RLE International, a vehicle and component product development company, filed in late October and claimed Coda owed it $356,500; its affiliate, RTECH, filed suit in December for an unspecified amount stating Coda failed to pay for contract workers. Vehicle testing company FEV filed in December and said Coda owed it $268,200.

Three of the cases have been agreed to be dismissed by the parties who filed them. The RTECH case was dismissed after Coda filed papers stating that the contract in question forced RTECH to resolve the issue through arbitration. Two other cases may have been settled the same way, Giga Om reports, and the FEV case is ongoing.

It's tough to pay debts if you're not selling any cars. Official numbers have not been released, but Coda may have sold fewer than 100 of its all-electric sedans since the car went on sale in March 2012. Since then, there's been a recall and a two-out-of-five star frontal crash test rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.



Source: Autoblog Green

2012 Coda Sedan Electric Car Price Slashed to $25,000

Coda Automotive, the startup maker that builds the 2012 Coda Sedan electric car, is going through some very tough times.

But it looks like one of its three dealers is trying to figure out the right price point for the all-electriccompact sedan--which was originally priced at$38,145, including a destination charge of $895.

Several days ago, Coda Silicon Valley advertised five brand-new Coda Sedans for $24,995 the price of after a "dealer discount" of $14,744 (buyers still likely have to add the $895).

That offer actually expired on Sunday, and we were unable to reach Silicon Valley Coda at any of the numbers listed on its website.

But it looks like this fire-sale price may be the dealer's way of getting rid of the few Coda Sedans it has in stock.

The company has been, at best, in retrenchment mode over the last few months, after rumors spread that it had sold fewer than 100 of its cars after it put the car into production last March.

In early December, Coda laid off 15 percent of its staff.

The day after Christmas, the company said it hadclosed its Coda Experience Center in the Westfield Mall in Century City, California.

Ten days later, Coda laid off another 15 percent of its staff.

And the company has never released any sales figures.

The competition will only get tougher now that the 2013 Nissan Leaf, a high-volume electric car from a known global automaker, carries a list price for the new Leaf S base model of just $28,800.

Indeed, commentator and analyst Brad Berman wrote in December that he expects Coda to turn its energies toward "Coda Energy, its spin-off focusing on stationary grid storage [battery] systems."

Meanwhile, if you have better luck than we do in contacting Coda Silicon Valley--or if you bought one of those five Coda Sedans listed on the website--let us know!

Source: Green Car Reports

Coda ready to increase production, sales in 2013

Could it be possible that around one in seven of the non-luxury electric vehicles sold in the U.S. will be made by Los Angeles-based startup Coda Automotive?

That's what CEO Phil Murtaugh told Plug In Cars recently, despite the fact that the company has delivered a mere 100 Coda Sedans to the general public.

Murtaugh said he hoped Coda would eventually account for at least 15 percent of non-luxury (read: non-Tesla) electric vehicle sales, adding that about 1,000 more cars have been ordered. He called the period from March, when the Coda Sedan went on sale, through July a "soft launch." Murtaugh recently madesimilar claims of sales growth in an interview with Bloomberg News, saying that the company planned to broaden its U.S. dealership network to about 30 next year, including locations in Oregon and Florida.

While the Coda Sedan has been rated by the EPA to have a single-charge range of 88 miles – 15 miles more than the Nissan Leaf – it's also about $2,000 more expensive. Coda opened its LA headquarters late last year and is said to have raised more than $300 million in private funding.



Source: Autoblog Green

Coda approaches 110 miles in Bay Area test drive

At least one person – a New York Times reviewer – has found that the Coda Sedan gets pretty impressive mileage out of a single charge. The tester reported reaching almost 110 miles on a single charge during a test drive.

The Coda was driven on a 79-mile round trip on one day, and had almost 20 percent of its battery power left over, and was driven 103 miles the following day, with "a few miles" worth of battery charge remaining, the Times reported. The Sedan had consistently better range than the Nissan Leaf the reviewer was leasing, though the car lacks amenities such as keyless entry, cruise control and a push-button starter.

The EPA in March estimated the Coda would get 88 miles on a single charge, the longest outside of Tesla Motors and 14 miles more than the Leaf. The Sedan was also given a 73-miles-per-gallon-equivalent rating.

Coda sold its first Sedans in March and opened its Los Angeles headquarters late last year.


Source: Autoblog Green