Skip to Content

Maker of World’s Most Boring Car Stops Making Cars

Coda Automotive’s uninspired EV failed to rouse customer interest.

The U.S. Department of Energy is being criticized for lending large sums of money to companies that went on to fail, like Solyndra, or appear to be on the cusp of failure, like Fisker Automotive (see “Why Tesla Survived and Fisker Won’t”). But here’s a company it turned down, and for good reason.

Coda Automotive, the maker of an entirely non-descript electric car that it had hoped people would pay $45,000 for, asked for loan money but didn’t get it. It declared bankruptcy today, suggesting that, in fact, people wouldn’t pay for it.

The company was pretty clearly a long shot from early on (see “A Startup’s Electric Sedan May Be First on the Road”). At one point it had a slim chance of beating the major automakers to market with an electric vehicle. But there was little to distinguish the company’s vehicle, certainly not enough to make them take a chance on an unknown automaker. 

Keep Reading

Most Popular

DeepMind’s cofounder: Generative AI is just a phase. What’s next is interactive AI.

“This is a profound moment in the history of technology,” says Mustafa Suleyman.

What to know about this autumn’s covid vaccines

New variants will pose a challenge, but early signs suggest the shots will still boost antibody responses.

Human-plus-AI solutions mitigate security threats

With the right human oversight, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence can help keep business and customer data secure

Next slide, please: A brief history of the corporate presentation

From million-dollar slide shows to Steve Jobs’s introduction of the iPhone, a bit of show business never hurt plain old business.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.