Coda aims to sell 50,000 EVs by 2015
Coda, like Tesla Motors Inc and Fisker Automotive, is one of several new companies that are banking on mass-market adoption of electric vehicles. Major automakers including Nissan Motor Co and General Motors are also racing to launch electric cars.
Coda is making its first vehicle, the CODA EV, in China in partnership with Hafei, which is controlled by state-owned China Changan Auto, and is scheduled to begin selling it in the United States in the second half of this year.
It will be sold to fleet buyers in California initially and slowly expand into other states, Murtaugh told reporters in Beijing.
"Once we start selling to fleets and get a feel of how we are doing, we will start selling to consumers. Our plan is to go slowly," he said.
Coda has set a target to sell 10,000 to 14,000 units in the first 12 months after its launch.
The Santa Monica-California based company also has a battery joint venture with Lishen Battery Power.
The company had in January tapped Murtaugh, a former General Motors Co and Chrysler executive with extensive experience in China as its new chief executive.
Related News
Wind and solar make more electricity than nuclear for first time in UK
LONDON - Wind farms and solar panels produced more electricity than the UK’s eight nuclear power stations for the first time at the end of last year, official figures show.
Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions also continued to fall, dropping 3% in 2017, as coal use fell and the use of renewables climbed.
Energy experienced the biggest drop in emissions of any UK sector, of 8%, while pollution from transport and businesses stayed flat.
Energy industry chiefs said the figures showed that the government should rethink its ban on onshore wind subsidies, a move that ministers have hinted could happen soon.
Lawrence Slade, chief executive…
