Call it a tale of two electric car makers.
One, Tesla Motors Inc., has received a lot of buzz, but still has a ways to go before its new cars are on track. The other, Coda Automotive Inc., has shied from the spotlight, but is pulling up to the starting gate.
Tesla and Coda have the similar goal of developing an all-electric sedan for the mass market. But the two companies have completely different styles.
When Tesla unveiled its sleek sedan dubbed the Model S four months ago in an L.A. hangar, the glitzy event was attended by dozens of reporters from around the world and high-profile Chief Executive Elon Musk.
But the company didn’t let anyone ride in the sedan and, as a result, industry insiders question if it’s really close to completion. Tesla wants to get the vehicle into production around mid-2011 but hasn’t yet picked a site to build a factory. The car is expected to have a base price of $50,000, though some analysts have wondered whether its price will go up.
The Coda sedan, meanwhile, was unveiled this month at a much quieter event in Santa Monica in front of only a handful of reporters.
But unlike Tesla, journalists were taken on a test drive of the car. The sedan is in production at a factory in China and should hit the market in 2010. It will have a base price of $45,000, but Chief Executive Kevin Czinger said it could fall into the mid-$20,000s as production costs decrease over time.
Czinger appeared to take a subtle swipe at Tesla during the Coda unveiling when he said his company wasn’t about “hype.” But in an interview with the Business Journal, he said he didn’t give much thought to any of his competitors.
“We have an engineered prototype with the production assets and the technology in place,” he said. “Our total focus is on getting out useful cars as quickly as possible.”
Auto Opportunity
The automotive industry’s downturn could mean an upswing in business for local car-buying Web sites.
Car sales around the country have tumbled because of the economy, and in May overall industry sales fell 34 percent, according to U.K.-based research firm Autodata Ltd.
But executives at L.A. area-based Web sites that help consumers research and buy cars see an opportunity. As more buyers look for the best prices and dealerships face increasing challenges to get rid of inventory, sites are trying to position themselves as the best resource for both parties.
Earlier this month, CarsDirect.com announced an effort that capitalizes on General Motors Corp.’s plan to close more than 2,500 dealerships nationwide. The El Segundo-based Web company has offered 60 days of free used-car listings to GM dealerships that are shuttering. Dealer listings on CarsDirect normally costs $400 to $1,600, depending on a dealer’s inventory.
Ken Potter, CarsDirect vice president and general manager of automotive sales and industry relations, said the company wanted to help dealerships that are switching to used-car sales or other makes in order to stay open.
But the offer could give CarsDirect a boost as well.
“Hopefully this will show them the value of our product and why they would do business with us in the future,” Potter said.
And while fewer car buyers means fewer people are visiting car-buying Web sites, Internet-generated sales are growing. That’s because the people who now visit the Web sites are more serious about purchasing and are finding the best deals via the Internet. Santa Monica-based Zag.com Inc. reported its sales increased by 264 percent last year and is projecting an 88 percent growth this year, despite traffic falling by as much as 40 percent in 2009.
“Is the current automotive climate creating opportunities? Absolutely,” said Scott Painter, chief executive at Zag.
Gawker Grudge?
What’s going on between Gossip blog ValleyWag and Los Angeles Web entrepreneur Frank Addante?
The blog, which is owned by New York-based Gawker Media, has taken several swipes at Addante. In October, it claimed the founder of online advertising firm Rubicon Project “embodied the worst of both Tinseltown and Silicon Valley.” Last week, it mocked an online video tour of Rubicon’s Santa Monica office, dubbing it “the startup office from hell.”
So how did Addante react to the potshots? He just laughed.
“They’re there for entertainment, and I thought it was entertaining,” he told the Business Journal of ValleyWag’s recent skewering of his video tour. “In fact, I sent it around to my team and said, ‘Hey, this is pretty funny.'”
He said he had no idea what motivated the posts.
Rubicon executives said they don’t know if the attacks have caused any harm. But they have had one noticeable effect: They’ve driven more visitors to the company’s job listing.
Staff reporter Charles Proctor can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 230.
