Coda Automotive will open 30 dealers to sell its electric cars

After a "soft launch" in March, Coda is ready to sell its electric sedan in California, Oregon, and Florida. Will there be any takers?

Coda Automotive unveiled its electric sedan in California this past March and, seven months later, the company is ready to open its first dealers to sell the EV. Thirty dealers, mostly in California, will sell the car known simply as the Coda sedan.

“March through July was a soft launch: new car, new company, new manufacturing process, new everything,” Coda CEO Phil Murtaugh told Automotive News. “Now as we get into real production ramp-up we need to add some dealers.”

Most of the dealers will be in Coda’s home state of California, but the company also plans to expand to potentially EV-friendly states such as Florida and Oregon.

Coda has delivered 100 cars in California since the “soft launch” in March. The company did not release any sales projections, but it did say that 1,000 cars have been ordered.

Coda’s ultimate goal is to capture 15 percent of the non-luxury EV market, putting it in direct competition with the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, and Ford Focus Electric, but excluding the more expensive Tesla Model S.

Pitched as an economical alternative to other EVs, the Coda costs $37,250, (but is eligible for a $7,500 tax credit). That means it is undercut not just by the super cheap Mitsubishi ($29,125), but also by the Leaf, which starts at $35,200. The Focus starts at $39,200.

The Coda has an average range of 88 miles per charge, giving it a slight advantage over the Leaf (79 miles) and Focus (76 miles), and leaving the i-MiEV, which has a 62-mile range, in the dust.

The Coda sedan is made from a chassis and batteries imported from China, with final assembly taking place in Benicia California. It is essentially an electric version of the Chinese Hafei Saibao.

In terms of interior and exterior styling, the Coda looks like it’s based on a car from the 1990s. Unlike the EV competition, the Coda also looks like a normal car. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is for buyers to decide.

If all goes well, Coda will expand its lineup in 2014 with a second model built entirely in China. The car will be codeveloped with Great Wall Motor Co., and sold under the Coda name in the United States and the Great Wall name in China.

Coda doesn’t seem to have reinvented the wheel with its EV, so it will be interesting to see whether it can stand up to the flashier competition. Opening dealerships is the company’s first step toward becoming a permanent presence in the auto industry, and will be the ultimate test of its viability.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Genetically Modified Neon ‘GloFish’ Could Threaten Natural Species: Report

Image courtesy Glofish.com

A species of bright neon green pet fish that were created by scientists could threaten native fish species off of Florida’s coasts, according to scientists.

The Electric Green Tetra, part of a line of GloFish created by scientists at Yorktown Technologies, was created when black tetra fish were combined with genetic material from coral, according to a report in today’s Washington Post. The report raises the possibility that the fish could be damaging to other species if let loose in American waters.

The fish, which becomes fluorescent when placed under a black light, was developed for use in home aquariums,  according to the GloFish website.

But some biologists and food scientists, like those at the Center for Food Safety, are worried the fish will make it into the wild and disrupt natural biodiversity.

“We feel that the use of GE [genetic engineering] for wild animals — and these are essentially wild animals, they are not domesticated, they’re wild, they can escape, people throw them back into the wild — can have long-running impacts that can be pretty scary. GE invasive species have caused a lot of problems in this country. We want to be careful about contributing to those issues,” CFS attorney Peter Jenkins told ABC News today.

GloFish were the subject of a lawsuit filed by Center for Food Safety against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2004. The CFS argued that the genetically-modified fish should be regulated by the government, Jenkins said.

Yorktown Technologies, maker of the fish, argues that the green fish would not become an invasive species if released into the wild.

“We have submitted detailed information regarding our fish to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration…. (The FDA) found no evidence that our fluorescent fish pose any more threat to the environment than their non-fluorescent counterparts,” Yorktown’s website for GloFish reads.

Jenkins said that he hopes the FDA will take note of the Washington Post report on GloFish, in addition to websites like GlowingSushi.com, which promotes the consumption of GloFish in order to raise awareness that they are dangerous.

“We think regulatory agencies aren’t doing their job,” Jenkins said today. “GE fish are generally banned entirely for pet use in Canada, California, and Europe, so the FDA seems to be taking a very hands-off approach.”

The FDA said in an email that GloFish are the only genetically engineered product sold commercially in the United States, and that they are not intended as a food product.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com