Coda Close Series C Round Funding, Investment Now $125m.Coda Close Series C Round Funding, Investment Now $125m.

Californian based EV start-up, Coda Automotive, have successfully closed their third round of investor financing. The company, which plans to produce 14,000 of their all electric sedan by the end of 2011 also announced they will be setting up offices in Singapore.
Coda has been quietly working away for some months now with some seriously impressive funding rounds including the current one. The current round of funding, totalling  $58 million, attracted new interest from EDB investments, an investment firm from Singapore as well as Leslie Wexner, chairman and CEO of Limited Brands Inc.
The most recent investors join such names as Coda’s founder, Miles Rubin, known previously for his neighborhood electric fleet vehicles which were sold under the Miles Electric Vehicles brand; and B round investor, former Goldman Sachs banker and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.
Coda Automotive CEO Kevin CzingerLike many of its rivals, Coda automotive have worked alongside other auto industry names to bring the Coda to market, including Porsche Engineering. The 2011 Coda Sedan is based on a Chinese built gasoline sedan built by the Hafei Automotive Group in Harbin, northeast China, called the Hafei Saibao.
The Hafei Saiabo was designed by Pininfarina of Italy, and the Coda Sedan will share a similar styling with new front grille and rear fender designs.
Coda Automotive also announced that their new offices in Singapore will further support engineering and design departments and help develop the right-hand drive version of the Sedan. Coda aim to sell the Sedan to Europe and Asia as well as to North America.
2011 Coda Sedan prototype – charging socketCoda’s total invested capital for the Sedan now stands at $125 million, but the company also have joint venture secured in the company battery venture of $394 million of equity capital and loan commitments.
We were lucky enough to have a ride in the 2011 Coda Sedan back in 2009 and in February this year Plug-in America members Sherry Boschert and David Herron were taken for a spin in the Coda Sedan with Coda representative Phil Gow and another excited EV advocate at the San Francisco Electric Vehicle meeting.
The Coda Sedan has a range of between 90 to 120 miles, and is expected to sell in the low $30,000s.
Based on what we’ve seen, Coda remains a company to keep your eyes on. Weighing in at a similar price to the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2012 Chevrolet Volt, things could get very interesting if Coda makes good on their promise to deliver by the fourth quarter of 2010.
Watch this space, and in the meantime here’s that video of the Coda demonstration in February.

[Reuters]

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