Coda is a little-known name in the industry, primarily because it is a very small company, which only makes one car…or let us rephrase, made one car. The Los Angeles-based startup filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, because their single offering did not attract the desired number of buyers.
The Coda Sedan was assembled locally, in Los Angeles, from knockdown kits brought in from China, and they only managed to build and sell one hundred examples. The all-electric sedan offered conventional looks, lots of space inside and a competent electric powertrain, as well as a maximum certified range of 125 miles, or 200 km.
Now, Coda’s car building venture will fall into the hands of another company, for $25 million, as they reorient themselves towards adapting their automotive technology for utilities systems for buildings.
It is a real shame to see another EV manufacturer go under, simply because there are not that many of them out there, and if one can’t make it in California, where demand should theoretically be high, then hope for other regions seems more akin to blind optimism than anything else.
Hopefully, the group of lenders led by Fortress Investment Group LLC, which are said to be acquiring what’s left, will not sell everything off to make a buck or two, and perhaps fix Coda’s clearly faulty business model, bringing in new ideas.
By Andrei Nedelea
Story References: Reuters
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