Seeks future in energy storage
In an unsurprising move, CODA is seeking bankruptcy to terminate its automotive manufacturing to focus on energy storage.
CODA’s attempt to enter the automotive industry seemed destined to fail from the start – take an aged Chinese gas powered sedan, insert an electric vehicle drivetrain, delay the launch multiple times, and try to sell it without an established dealership network.
We previously wrote about our opportunity to drive the CODA sedan (found here). We were not impressed. In fact, when we wrote about the first retail delivery of the first CODAs in California just over a year ago (found here) we expressed our reservations at the time. Unfortunately stories such CODAs bankruptcy only serve as fodder for anti-EV advocates. The car business is tough enough just to sustain multi-billion dollar corporations (as General Motors and Chrysler have learned). Trying to establish a presence in a new technology with a brand new company requires an exemplary product. The CODA sedan clearly was not such a product.