Coda now promising a sales office in LA

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adaminla

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From today's Los Angeles times:
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-0418-autos-coda-20110418,0,2489181.story

Kate Spade, Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton — tony retailers at the Westfield Century City mall — are getting a new neighbor, but it won't be another fancy brand. In an unusual move for an automaker, electric car company Coda Automotive Inc. will open its first showroom at the shopping center in July.

The automaker is hoping the glitz of those names will rub off on Coda, providing a marketing aura far bigger that what could be expected for a tiny, start-up automaker.

Analysts are skeptical.

So far, the three comments include one that expresses surprise that it will take 6 hours to charge a battery.
 
From Coda's site:

http://www.codaautomotive.com/electric-vehicle-blog/the-new-coda-store-at-westfield-century-city-3/

One of the benefits of being a newcomer to the industry is having the opportunity to create a retail strategy from scratch. Company-owned CODA stores, located in high-traffic shopping centers, will provide a convenient, inviting environment for our customers to buy a car in a new way. Our first store will be located at Westfield Century City near Gelsons and the AMC Theatre.
 
They should sublease an office to EEscam and Aptera, to manage CS and customer deposits. Maybe have a few Bloom Box posters and sprinkle in some cold fusion framed articles. Save some room for articles on cellulosic ethanol and algae biodiesel too.
 
We joke, but several times a week I drive by what seems to be a Coda support depot in Santa Monica, with some cars under wraps, and some bright shiny ones out in the open. Having only seen one leaf in the wild since deliveries started, and yet several at this Coda shop, I wonder if maybe the massive Nissan isn't really that far ahead of upstart Coda, in terms of ability to bring a car to market (at whatever scale suits the particular carmaker) ?

Its interesting all the different ways this is being approached. A friend who has a mini-e described the actual cost the make that "prototype" car, and my jaw dropped. Nissan's volume+price seems pretty groundbreaking, if the car is profitable for Nissan. I think all of these combined will help turn the market away from ICE's.
 
Per their website, the glider (as they call it- great name for the lifeless shell of a car) is produced in China, but the EV parts, which I suspect are the challenging & expensive parts, are apparently assembled here in California. The cost of making them coupled with the relatively low volume seems to explain why the cost per car would be higher. It will be hard to compete with the giants, but I hope Coda makes lots of money selling lots of them, and if my long delayed leaf doesn't arrive by July, i might just stop by their shop in the next couple of months and get in line for one.
 
martyd said:
We joke, but several times a week I drive by what seems to be a Coda support depot in Santa Monica, with some cars under wraps, and some bright shiny ones out in the open.
Click to expand...

I go by this place a lot too (it's by my favorite bagel place). I'm always tempted to take some pics of the cars they have out front but the same security lady is always there. I wish Coda the best of luck, but the design is tired and they're too expensive.
 
martyd said:
I wonder if maybe the massive Nissan isn't really that far ahead of upstart Coda, in terms of ability to bring a car to market
Click to expand...

I got a ride in a Coda at the Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica last October, the day that I first drove a LEAF. Had you been there, you probably wouldn't be comparing the two as optimistically as that. On a day when Nissan had a dozen LEAFs, fully operational and ready for the public to test drive, Coda had one sedan that you could ride in, driven by a Coda employee. The electronic screen on the dash was turned off or showing a screen saver because their software wasn't ready yet. The car looked like exactly what it is, a copy of an old design that was boring when it was brand new. That applies to both the exterior and the interior.

I hate to trash this ambitious small company's efforts, but with continual delays in delivering their first cars and setting up their innovative sales and delivery paradigm and pricing that has already been strongly undercut by Nissan and others, I don't hold out much hope for Coda, except perhaps as a buyout candidate for a larger company looking to jumpstart their EV program in order to catch up with the front runners.
 
The EV parts are assembled into the car in California-- but I would bet that most of those parts are foreign sourced.

There is no way a start up auto company can survive, none have in what, 80 years? Bricklin, Delorean.... look at all of the brands that have died recently. A world-wide manufacturer can amortize their R&D budget for EV's into their sales of millions of units of ICE vehicles... and they can absorb losses for a decade, if needed. Coda and Tesla will run out of cash long before they can become profitable. The Chinese companies, such as BYD, which get government subsidies and have much lower labor cost will also be competing in this market before long... If you do buy a CODA, skip the factory extended warranty.
 

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