Despite the fact that this car looks straight out of 1999, the Coda electric car was produced in 2012-2013 and competed with the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf. "Competed" is used loosely here, as only 117 Codas were sold. Even though the Coda was sold only in California, this is still, to put it lightly, a dismal number. Codas were $38,145; the Volt started at $39,145 and the Leaf $35,200.
As its looks suggest, the Coda was built off of outdated bones. It used the body of the Hafei Saibao, a Chinese car built from 2005-2008 which was loosely based on the 1997-2001 Mitsubishi Mirage design. Coda did modify the design to improve safety, but it was still largely a 7 year old design with 16 year old underpinnings. The Volt, on the other hand, shared its platform and much of its design with the Cruze, a well-reviewed, thoroughly up-to-date small car that came out for the 2011 model year alongside the Volt. The Leaf was an all-new platform also introduced for the 2011 model year, and looked and drove like something from 2011 as well.
Speaking of safety, the Coda only received a 2 star front-impact driver crash test rating from NHTSA (out of 5 stars). It got 4 stars for the front passenger in the same front impact and 5 stars for both front and rear occupants in the side impact, although there were still problems: the side curtain airbag did not fully deploy in the side impact, allowing the rear passenger dummy's head to hit the window, and the Coda only got 3 stars in the "side pole" crash test. The Volt? All 5-star except for the front-impact front passenger, which was still 4 stars. The Leaf had 4 stars for both occupants in the front impact, a 5 star safety rating, and 4 stars in the side pole crash test/ In addition, they both had an IIHS Top Safety Pick rating; the Coda was never tested by IIHS.
Car and Driver said that the Coda "incorporated all the charm of a late-’90s Daewoo Nubira for the price of a well-equipped Audi A4.", pointing out that the Coda had no cruise control or auto up-and-down power windows.
Wow.
