A First Look at the 2012 Coda Sedan, the workman's car
Auto Tech
You might call the Coda Sedan the working man's electric car.
It doesn't have the high tech styles the Tesla Model or even the Nissan Leaf.
It's got sort of a plain style.
You wouldn't even know it's an electric car until you see the big label on the back that says all electric or the lack of a tail pipe.
The car is built in China and then shipped over here where they put the electric powertrain in.
In the cabin of the Coda Sedan, really, really high tech touches the drive selector.
It's a big knob that you turn around that choose park, reverse, neutral or drive.
It really doesn't need much more than that being an electric car.
Now, Coda is also a small company, so their head unit, they don't make their own head unit.
This is actually an Alpine navigation unit.
It also has a USB port down here, so you can plug in your iPad or USB drive, other things like that.
Coda is selling this car in two different models.
One has a 150 mile range with a 31 kwh battery.
That one goes for 39,900.
Then we have another one which only has 125 mile range, but that one costs 37,250.
And when you factor in a federal tax credit of 7,500, that's puts it below 30,000.
And in fact, Coda says after state credits, this car could even be as low as 22,000.
Coda is gonna start selling this car soon.
In fact, the first ones are coming over from China right now.
I'm Wayne Cunningham reporting from the Detroit Auto Show.
