AC

After years of anticipation, the first Chinese-built car is finally being offered for sale in the U.S. But far from being the vanguard of an invasion of cheap Chinese cars that U.S. automakers once feared, the Coda sedan, as the model is being called, is a pricey niche model: a $44,900 all-electric sedan. And it's not entirely Chinese. The battery is made in China by a joint venture of which Los Angeles-based Coda has a 40% stake. The body is made at a contract builder in China. But the car was largely engineered in the U.S., and some of its electronics are American-made. Plus, the battery is attached to the body in Benicia, Calif. Coda executives aren't shy about the car's origins. "This will be the first Chinese car in the U.S.," Coda CEO Philip Murtaugh declared as he opened Coda's sales center at a shopping mall in Los Angeles' tony Century City last week. Rather than looking like a high-tech wonder, the Coda is a plain sedan that is priced almost $5,000 more than the...