Benicia Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani confirmed last week that CODA, the Los Angeles-based electric car company, has ceased its Benicia operations.
“CODA has ceased production in Benicia due to lack of sales,” Giuliani said in an email.
He cited previous news stories relating the difficulties CODA had in meeting projected timelines and sales.
“City staff was aware that CODA was not meeting their projected production/sales goals but it was confirmed this week that all CODA operations ceased last quarter,” he said Thursday.
“The company continues to operate out of their L.A. office, but no longer has a presence in Benicia.”
However, he added, “If the company’s financial viability improves, they may return to Benicia, but that is still unknown at this time.”
A CODA spokesman responded to a request for comment late Monday by saying the company “has suspended automotive production as it reviews strategic options to bolster its financing. While production is currently suspended, the company continues to provide service to its dealers and customers.
“Our desire is to secure financing that enables us to become fully operational.”
Because Benicia was not the point of sale for CODA’s operations, its departure had no sales tax implications for the city, Giuliani said.
The status of CODA workers hired in Benicia — whether they were released or reassigned to other locations — is unknown.
CODA announced Sept. 12, 2011, that it would begin assembling cars in Benicia, adding about 50 positions to its work force. The company picked Benicia for its assembly site after a year’s consideration, K. Forrest Beanum, vice president of the company’s public affairs and communications, said at the time.
Beanum said Benicia was chosen because its port has the necessary infrastructure to meet CODA’s production schedule, and because of its easy access to rail service and several interstate highways.
CODA rolled out its first commercially available electric sedans from an AMPORTS building at the Port of Benicia on March 12, 2012.
However, last September a recall was issued on 78 of the company’s electric sedans because of a side curtain airbag deployment problems, leading to speculation in the Los Angeles Times that the company’s all-electric car was selling poorly.
Beanum dismissed the Times’s report that the company had sold only 78 vehicles since launching last April, saying it “came to an erroneous conclusion.” He also said the company had not officially released sales numbers at that time, and that media guesses had been largely inaccurate.
Though CODA has ceased its Benicia operations, Giuliani said the company choosing the city for its Northern California operations was a positive development. “We are very proud that CODA chose Benicia as it its Northern California distribution point. This shows that our city is well positioned to attract new startup companies.
“The fact that Benicia was chosen is a win unto itself,” he said.
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CODA sedans line an AMPORTS warehouse in September 2011, where company and city officials and others were on hand for the announcement that Benicia would host the assembly of up to 14,000 of the electric cars.
IN MARCH 2012, CODA executive Forrest Beanum, left, spoke at the company’s unveiling of its Benicia-assembled cars; Solano County Supervisor Linda Seifert and Mayor Elizabeth Patterson (seated) were among those in attendance.
[http://www.codaautomotive.com/]:
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