Coda plans electric sedan launch for late this year

(Courtesy of Coda)

Coda, once the independent darling of the electric car world, has announced yet another delay for its all-electric Sedan.

The California-based automaker, which was hit by a series of high-profile resignations in the days before the critical LA Auto Show last year, will begin shipping late this year, according to reports in the US.

In March 2011 it said that it planned to begin deliveries in the second half of 2011, following an earlier announcement which delayed the sedan to early 2011.

It was originally scheduled to be launched at the LA Auto Show alongside the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, which have gone on to become the first "mass-market" electric vehicles.

Now, the Coda Sedan will go on sale in the US in the fourth quarter of this year, according to quotes from Coda boss Phil Murtaugh on the PlugInCars blog.

"We're getting our production tooling all in order now," he is quoted as saying.

"It takes about six weeks to ship them over to the United States, so sometime in the fourth quarter, probably the late fourth quarter, we'll see cars going on sale in California."

The $44,900 Sedan was a seductive proposition for some early adopters of electric vehicles - it was expensive, but larger than its competitors and with a longer range thanks to the increased number of batteries.

Coda Automotive estimated last year that its Sedan could manage a range of up to 120 miles (193 km), 20 miles further than the Nissan Leaf (approximately 100 miles/191 km) thanks to the batteries offering 30 percent more energy.

If Coda manages to stick to this launch date, it will enter a very different market to the one it would have done if it had have launched on time, with well-publicized vehicles from Ford, General Motors, Nissan and Toyota likely to already be in the showrooms.

It remains to be seen whether the rental companies which announced deals with Coda last year - Hertz and Enterprise - will still be offering the vehicles in their fleets.

Full story: http://www.plugincars.com/first-coda-deliveries-now-aimed-late-fourth-quarter-2011-107078.html