News first broke of the decision to euphemistically “right-size” Coda – as the company referred to the layoffs – last Tuesday on PluginCars.com.

An anonymous source within Coda revealed to PluginCars.com that the company “had sold fewer than 100 units of its all-electric sedan since it went on sale in March 2012 – and that sales had virtually stopped after the car was recalled by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (for faulty safety equipment) in August.”

“They just cut everybody they possible [sic] could,” said the source. “Their sales department went to just a handful of people. It’s a real mess.”

PluginCars.com also reported that the source said Coda was running low on funds and is having difficulty finding customers.

Last month Coda was the recipient of the Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Award from the Los Angeles Business Journal. The award from the business trade journal recognizes organizations and executives with proven influential innovation and business development prowess in Los Angeles, an honor that should buoy any company’s image, if even by a small degree.

However, recent news that Coda’s sedan – the one vehicle currently offered by the company – received a two star rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for frontal crash impact on the driver’s side may sap consumer enthusiasm.

A score of two stars isn’t failing, but major brand automakers often see four stars or more in the same tests. The Coda’s passenger side received four stars for frontal impact, and in rollover testing the car rated five out of five stars.

Coda’s four-door vehicle, powered by a 31-kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate battery, earned only an 88-mile range rating from the U.S. EPA, but under more sedate driving scenarios has seen its range top 125 miles. The car, currently available only in California, has a top speed of 85 mph, seats five, can recharge in six hours at 240 volts, and retails for $37,250.

PluginCars.com

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Coda Holdings announced today the signature of a contract with Great Wall Motors Company to co-develop a worldwide entry-level electric vehicle.

According to Coda, this will be the first all-electric vehicle designed and built for worldwide development and distribution.

Designed for the North American, Chinese, and European markets, the co-developed EV is intended to be the most affordable EV on the market, comparable to entry-level internal combustion vehicles.

The joint effort will combine CODA’s battery technology, knowledge of the U.S. market and experience with global joint ventures with the expertise of China’s fastest growing and most profitable automotive producer. Great Wall Motors is currently the fastest growing OEM in China, with nearly 500,000 vehicles delivered in 2011.

Both companies aim to benefit from their ability to rapidly develop product and manufacturing processes, mostly by combining the product portfolio and manufacturing assets of Great Wall with Coda’s EV propulsion systems and battery technology expertise.

Products will be developed by employees of both companies in their research facilities in Los Angeles, Calif., and Baoding, China. Vehicles will be sub-assembled in Great Wall’s manufacturing facilities in Baoding. Final assembly of U.S.-bound vehicles will take place in Coda’s facility in the U.S.

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Mr. Electric is now selected as CODA Automotive’s Preferred EV Charging Station Installation Partner.

CODA made the news official yesterday in the wake of the New York Auto Show, naming electric service and repair company Mr. Electric as its preferred provider of electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) installation services.

With nearly 20 years of experience in electrical installation and repair services throughout the U.S. and Canada, Mr. Electric intends to offer complete consultation and installation services of electric vehicle charging stations for CODA Automotive customers.

CODA Automotive customers will first work with their dealer to set up a home assessment appointment through Mr. Electric. After the consultation, Mr. Electric can help handle all necessary permits and conduct the installation of the EVSE.

This comes after CODA Automotive identified the GE WattStation Wall Mount as its EV charging station of choice.

CODA delivered its first vehicle mid-March and production is now regular.

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On Friday CODA enthusiastically announced it had delivered its all-electric mid-sized sedan to its first three California customers.

Two early reservation holders from the Southern California area, and one from up north stepped up to take delivery of their five-passenger batter electric vehicles that are based on Chinese chassis and which receive final assembly in California.

“Watching our dealers deliver the first vehicles to customers is an incredibly fulfilling milestone,” said Phil Murtaugh, CODA Holdings CEO. “All three customers share our conviction that advances in technology can help solve the energy challenges that have weighed down our economy and our environment for decades, and we’re thrilled to have them help bring us one step closer to fulfilling our founding vision.”

CODA says early reservation holders were selected to receive their new sedans based on the vehicle specifications they requested, and the first 500 retail vehicles come with a numbered plaque located on the center console and custom key chain.

The EVs are also eligible for solo driving in the coveted high occupancy vehicle lanes, and CODA noted “The new 2012 CODA is the first all-electric five-passenger, mid-size sedan with full rear seating and trunk space that meets American drivers’ daily transportation needs without an ounce of gasoline.”

Relying on thermally managed 31-kwh lithium-ion batteries that receive a 10-year warranty, the cars are rated to 88 miles per charge by the U.S. EPA.

CODA says if you take it easier than the official test cycle, ranges up to 125 miles per charge are feasible. The vehicles have a 6.6-kwh on-board charger like Ford has been saying its Focus EV does, while the Nissan Leaf does not. CODA says recharge times are about six hours using a 240-volt charger.

MSRP is $37,250 for the limited availability car and federal plus California state credits can see this effectively reduced to $27,250.

CODA is offering test drives in Los Angeles, CODA Silicon Valley, the CODA Experience Center at the Century City Westfield Mall, Fladeboe CODA at Irvine Auto Center, and the Marvin K. Brown CODA San Diego. More info can be found at its Web site.

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Coda Automotive’s first production 2012 Coda Sedan drove off the assembly line today, Monday March 12.

According to the company, the electric car, built in Benicia, Calif., will soon finally be available for delivery to Coda dealers in California.

“This is an incredibly exciting day for the CODA family and the EV community,” said Mac Heller, executive chairman, CODA Holdings. “Since day one, we’ve been dedicated to designing an electric car that provides the amenities that the American driver has come to expect, such as range, torque, and value. This car symbolizes our commitment to accelerating the adoption of EVs.”

Originally set to see the light in the fall of 2010, the Coda Sedan is now ready for a real launch. The EPA published the sedan’s official ratings last week, with a range of 88 miles and a combined efficiency of 73 MPGe. Coda Automotive claims a range of up to 125 miles.

The 2012 Coda Sedan is powered by a 100-kilowatt electric motor (134 horsepower), combined to a 31 kilowatt-hour battery pack. It can be charged either on 240-volt or household 110-volt current.

Only available in California at first, the 2012 Coda Sedan carries an MSRP of $37,250 before government rebates or tax credits. It is backed by a10-year, 100,000-mile limited battery warranty.

In September 2011, the company opened its Westfield Century City corporate store on Santa Monica Blvd., in Los Angeles. Coda has since announced in December 2011 Marvin K. Brown as its exclusive dealer partner in San Diego County; and this January the Del Grande Dealer Group as its first dealer partner in Northern California.

Interested customers have been able to officially reserve their Coda with a $99 deposit.

The post American-built Coda Production Underway appeared first on HybridCars.com.

However, certifying a vehicle for use on public roads in the US isn’t a simple process. The Coda Sedan must obtain official fuel efficiency ratings from the Environmental Protection Agency and will have to successfully complete the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) mandatory crash tests.

Without certification, the Coda Sedan can’t legally be sold for on-road use in the US. Furthermore, the act of certifying a vehicle in the US can be a timely process, with both the EPA and the NHTSA short on the resources necessary to quickly certify all waiting vehicles. It took Fisker nearly nine months after production began to get official federal government approval to sell its plug-in hybrid Karma in the United States. Assurances aside, whether or not Coda meets its current deadline to officially launch sales is now in the hands of the federal government.

Also in the hands of the government is Coda’s application for a share of $25 billion in loans for advanced technology vehicles makers. If it gets that loan, Coda it will be able to begin moving production of its vehicle from China to the United States, a move that the carmaker says will create as many as 2,000 jobs. If the request is rejected, Murtaugh told The Detroit News his company still plans to move production here, but it could take 5-8 years of sales to accumulate the money to make that possible.

Once the Coda Sedan does begin sales, the carmaker announced earlier this month that customers would be given the option of buying a version of the car with a smaller battery capacity for $2,650 less than the standard model. Instead of a 36-kilowatt-hour battery pack with a claimed range of 150 miles, the budget model will carry a 31-kWh pack delivering 125 miles of range.

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As Coda makes “final preparations” for the debut of its electric sedan initially to the California market this year, its parent company says it has raised an additional $147 million in financing.

Coda Holdings has reportedly now raised $300 million since being founded in 2009, and its business also includes units that build lithium batteries and electric drive control systems.

The largest contributor to its most recent funding, according to Coda CEO Phil Murtagh, was New World Strategic Investment Limited (NW-SI), described as “a highly respected and established firm that has a strong history of supporting the clean tech industry in Asia.”

Other investors are those who had contributed to previous funding rounds, including company founder Miles Rubin, Harbinger Capital Partners and Riverstone Holdings.

Leaf beater

Coda’s California-only EV packs a battery nominally rated at 36 kwh, and it reportedly pushes closer to an actual 39 kwh. This is significantly higher than the all-electric Nissan Leaf’s 24 kwh, and Coda says its car will cause “range envy” while offering up to 150 miles per charge.

Not one to necessarily be swayed by automaker assertions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to rate the Coda’s range at around 110 miles. This will nonetheless be significantly more than the 73 miles it estimated for the Leaf.

According to Edmunds, which recently test drove a Coda, its lithium-iron-phosphate battery chemistry has lower energy density than the Leaf’s lithium-manganate chemistry, but Coda says performance is otherwise superior.

Coda says its battery costs less to produce while delivering more useable energy, higher peak power, longer battery life, and greater thermal stability.

After starting with a partially discharged battery, Edmunds got 105 miles out of its mixed around-town plus stop-and-go highway test drive. It estimated 120 miles should have been possible, if not more.

The 3,670-pound Coda weighs 300 pounds more than the Leaf, has a limited top speed of 85 mph, and reportedly – although unofficially – it dashes to 60 mph in the 9-10 second range compared to the Leaf’s approximately 10 seconds.

Who will buy it?

The $44,900 (before incentives) 2011 Coda tops the Leaf in power, but its price gap over the $35,200 2012 Leaf is also substantial.

Presently, Coda has one southern California retail location, is taking reservations, and is looking at opening a retail store in the San Fransisco Bay Area by year’s end. The company hopes to sell 14,000 units by the end of 2012.

Murtagh, who came on board in January after heading GM’s China division, said first adopters will likely have income over $125,000. As you would expect, they are projected to be those most interested in the latest tech, particularly as applied to environmentally sustainable solutions.

Corporate and fleet buyers will also be among the first movers, and these all represent the lowest hanging fruit needed to buy time as Coda races on toward refining its appeal for a broader audience.

Edmunds, Coda.

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Fans of electric vehicles, and supporters of good old-fashioned American entrepreneurialism, might celebrate Coda’s rugged and independent approach—but that’s being undermined by questions about the manufacturing origins of the Coda sedan. Critics say the car is manufactured in China, so it’s a Chinese car. Full stop. Forget for a moment that nearly every manufactured good we use today comes from China. An analysis of the nationality of the Coda is complex—considering the global nature of the automotive industry.

Connect the dots:

• The car is adapted from a gas-powered car from Chinese state-owned Hafei Motor Co. The chassis of that car was licensed from Japan’s Mitsubishi.
• The Coda visual design comes from Pininfarina, the legendary Italian sports car designer. Coda’s US engineers put in more changes in order to meet US performance and safety specs. Other design aspects came from global automakers, such as Porsche.
• About 40 percent of the components in the car, when measured by monetary value, come from US manufacturers, such as Borg Warner.
• The battery inside Coda’s sedan comes from a joint venture owned by Coda and China’s Tianjin Lishen Battery Co. The electronics for thermal and battery management of the pack were designed and will be produced in the US and shipped to Asia.
• The car will be built on assembly lines in China, with Coda engineers remaining full-time on the manufacturing floor to oversee production.

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“Maybe ten percent of the original [Chinese] design is left. Otherwise, the car has been completely redesigned,” said Kevin Czinger, Coda CEO, in an interview with CBS News. “The auto industry is a global industry. Many components are from China already. It is less a matter of geography and more a matter of what firm has control over process and quality.”

Czinger said that Coda didn’t go to China just for low labor rates, but to use existing production lines rather than spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build manufacturing capacity from scratch. It was a make or break decision for Czinger. In an email to HybridCars.com, he wrote, “The decision Coda had to make was whether to build a safe, affordable , all-electric car or not. The reality is that there is no volume battery manufacturing in the US today.” Czinger believes that Coda’s joint battery venture allows the company “to get to market quickly while building a balanced industry in both the US and China.” Coda’s goal is to accelerate the adoption of electric cars everywhere, not just the United States.

Balancing Act: US Jobs and US Oil Independence

In the end, Coda’s global manufacturing process will become less important than the quality and capabilities of the product resulting from that process.

Coda is promising to deliver a moderately priced, well-designed, safe, highway-capable, all-electric four-door sedan—a feat not yet achieved by any US-based start-up company.

If Coda succeeds, and earns a loyal group of American drivers, the mixed heritage of the Coda sedan may become irrelevant—especially when you consider that Coda’s car runs without using a drop of gasoline. That represents a small but important step toward reversing America’s severe economic and geo-political dependence on oil.

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“We’re focused on the battery,” Czinger said in summary of his start-up company’s reason for being. “We have the first and best (automotive scale) mass-produced battery pack” and “we own the intellectual property on our battery system and advanced electronics.”

Coda is producing the batteries in China in association with Lishen Power Battery. The partners have the potential to make 20,000 units a year. Based on that volume, according to Czinger, the company would have enough capacity to one day consider selling their batteries to other car companies. That lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery, which features 728 cells, is durable enough to offer with an 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

“To get the first vehicles out, we had to design the battery within the [given] vehicle requirements,” said Czinger. The Coda electric sedan has a four-passenger Mitsubishi chassis with a nondescript Pininfarina-designed body weighing 3,360 pounds. The Coda sedan will be built to order, so new purchasers can expect their vehicles to be delivered four-to-eight weeks after they’ve been ordered. Prior to delivery, Czinger said that Coda has an arrangement with Sears to have one of their technicians visit the new buyer’s home to determine its adaptability for installation of a 220-volt charger. He added that Sears will handle permitting and installation, an issue that has tripped up some companies venturing into the EV field in the past.

The next Coda car will be designed from the ground up as electric vehicles, Czinger promised.

Czinger also addressed the business prospects for the company as it prepares to directly compete against Nissan, Ford, Chevy and other heavy hitters in the plug-in vehicle business. While he personally was one of the early investors, Coda now has access to a “low interest bank facility” to augment its $500 million capital commitment. “This is a very capital-intensive business,” he said, noting that it can easily cost more than $100 million to design and engineer a car for US sales. But Czinger exuded confidence that his small-volume company has the cash, engineering and confidence to succeed.

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“We’re focused on the battery,” Czinger said in summary of his start-up company’s reason for being. “We have the first and best (automotive scale) mass-produced battery pack” and “we own the intellectual property on our battery system and advanced electronics.”

Coda is producing the batteries in China in association with Lishen Power Battery. The partners have the potential to make 20,000 units a year. Based on that volume, according to Czinger, the company would have enough capacity to one day consider selling their batteries to other car companies. That lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery, which features 728 cells, is durable enough to offer with an 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

“To get the first vehicles out, we had to design the battery within the [given] vehicle requirements,” said Czinger. The Coda sedan has a four-passenger Mitsubishi chassis with a nondescript Pininfarina-designed body weighing 3,360 pounds. The Coda sedan will be built to order, so new purchasers can expect their vehicles to be delivered four-to-eight weeks after they’ve been ordered. Prior to delivery, Czinger said that Coda has an arrangement with Sears to have one of their technicians visit the new buyer’s home to determine its adaptability for installation of a 220-volt charger. He added that Sears will handle permitting and installation, an issue that has tripped up some companies venturing into the EV field in the past.

The next Coda car will be designed from the ground up as electric vehicles, Czinger promised.

Czinger also addressed the business prospects for the company as it prepares to directly compete against Nissan, Ford, Chevy and other heavy hitters in the plug-in vehicle business. While he personally was one of the early investors, Coda now has access to a “low interest bank facility” to augment its $500 million capital commitment. “This is a very capital-intensive business,” he said, noting that it can easily cost more than $100 million to design and engineer a car for US sales. But Czinger exuded confidence that his small-volume company has the cash, engineering and confidence to succeed.

The post Coda Takes on Major Players for Affordable Pure Electric Car appeared first on HybridCars.com.