Skip to main content

Coda Automotive, the ‘anti-Tesla,’ files for bankruptcy, returns focus to battery biz

Coda sedan drivingTesla Motors has stolen the electric car spotlight with its flashy, luxurious Model S, but there is another upstart EV builder that most people forget about (and it’s not Fisker). Maybe that’s why Coda Automotive is filing for bankruptcy.

The company will leave the car business and instead concentrate on Coda Energy, a stationary battery division it started in 2011.

Recommended Videos

Coda Automotive had a short and frustrated existence. It finally put its electric sedan on sale last year after months of delays, only to lay off 15 percent of its workforce last December.

While the car business has always been tough to break into, it’s easy to see why Coda failed just by looking at its product.

Coda really was the anti-Tesla; its car was supposed to be cheap and unpretentious, which is why it didn’t even have a name.

However, that meant Coda had to skimp on several qualities that could have attracted less humble customers. The Coda was based on the Chinese Haifei Saibao, so it had the styling of a 1990s Hyundai. It also lacked the tech and convenience options of other cars.

In the end, the Coda sedan wasn’t especially cheap either. At $37,250, it was actually a little dearer than a Nissan Leaf, and thanks to the creation of a new $28,800 base model, the Leaf is now significantly cheaper.

The Coda’s performance didn’t set the world on fire either. It’s 85 mph top speed and EPA-rated 88-mile range put it in the middle of the EV pack.

Even if the car was better, Coda’s demise wouldn’t be entirely surprising. Starting a car company isn’t easy, even when that company isn’t built around relatively unproven technology. Just ask Preston Tucker, or Henrik Fisker.

Like those men, Coda’s founders had a good idea that just didn’t work out. Coda may be gone, but hopefully the idea of a truly affordable, no-nonsense EV won’t die with it.

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
Honda unveils sleek electric sedan and SUV prototypes at CES 2025
Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV prototypes.

Honda’s next-generation electric vehicles are a step closer to production. At CES 2025, the automaker unveiled prototypes of the 0 Saloon and 0 SUV, the first two of its 0 Series EVs that will start rolling off assembly lines in Ohio next year.

The two EVs follow 0 Series concept cars Honda unveiled at CES 2024. These are closer to what buyers can expect to see in showrooms, hence the label of “prototype” rather than “concept.” How close exactly? When Honda unveils a prototype, that vehicle generally makes the transition to production with minimal changes. But that would be particularly remarkable here.
They still look like concept cars

Read more
Digital Trends’ Top Tech of CES 2025 Awards
Top Tech of CES

Las Vegas is overrun. Every billboard in town is shouting about AI, hotel bar tops now sport a sea of laptops, and after hours The Strip is elbow to elbow with engineers toting yard-long beers.

That means CES, the year’s biggest tech bacchanalia, has come to town, and Digital Trends editors have spent the last four days frolicking among next year’s crop of incredible TVs, computers, tablets, and EVs. We’re in heaven.

Read more
Sony and Honda’s Afeela 1 EV makes more sense at CES than in the real world
Afeela 1 front quarter view.

The Sony car is almost here. After its creation via a joint venture with Honda in 2022 and two years’ worth of prototypes, the electronics giant’s Afeela brand is finally taking reservations for its first electric vehicle, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2026.

But will it be worth the wait? Coinciding with the opening of reservations, Sony Honda Mobility brought updated prototypes of the Afeela 1 (as it’s now officially known) to CES 2025, representing what California customers (Afeela is only taking reservations in that state) who put down a $200 refundable deposit can expect when they take delivery.

Read more