Free Republic

The Coda sedan will be the first Chinese-made electric car to be sold in the United States. So far, the automotive press thinks the Coda is nowhere near as eccentric as models like the Nissan Leaf or Mitsubishi i, but like that its range is significantly higher than these electric cars. “If cars came in flavors, Coda's debut would be classic vanilla,” says the Los Angeles Times. “Understated by design, it's a car for do-gooders who don't need to flaunt their green credentials. Think Honda Civic, only all electric and homegrown.”

The latest JD Power new vehicle survey, the Miss America pageant of the auto industry, showed the quality of US cars closing the gap with Japanese models to the point where the difference is nearly meaningless. This accomplishment comes as the fall of Detroit is nearly over and foreign car companies are likely to build more vehicles per year in the US than domestic companies for the first time in history. Toyota (TM) kept its crown as the car brand with the fewest defects. Lexus, the company’s luxury division, had only 84 problems per 100 vehicles, the survey of 80,000...