Why do you think GM trashed its electric car? Was it supposed to fail?

Question

Did they crush them because they were too successful?

Answer 1

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GM was very clear when the program started in 1994 that they thought it would fail, and wanted it to.
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As Matthew L. Wald wrote in a front page New York Times story (January 28, 1994):
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"General Motors is preparing to put its electric vehicle act on the road, and planning for a flop.

With pride and pessimism, the company, the furthest along of the Big Three in designing a mass-market electric car, says that in the face of a California law that requires that 2 percent of new cars be "zero emission" vehicles beginning in 1997, it has done its best but that the vehicle has come up short.... Now it hopes that lawmakers and regulators will agree with it and postpone or scrap the deadline."
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GM only made the car to comply with the California ZEV mandate. As soon as the mandate was killed, so was the car. They had no plans to build EVs beyond that, demand or not. Electric Cars are too disruptive to the existing business model. The first successful mass-market EV will almost certainly come from Asia, where many EV concepts are being worked on right now.
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But hope is not lost for us here in America. Here's a really amazing electric vehicle, for sale right now:
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http://phoenixmotorcars.com/models/fleet.html
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The Phoenix can travel up to 250 miles per charge, carries 5 passengers plus cargo at 95mph, charges in only 10 minutes, and has batteries that will last well over 200,000 miles (for the life of the car.) Yes, it's a real car, orders have been taken and they begin building cars this month.
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Regarding true demand for electric vehicles, a survey from 2003 Commissioned by the California Electric Transportation Coalition shows significant consumer demand for an electric car, if the right price target and range can be acheived. Up to one-third of car buyers expressed interest. Of special interest is that half of those buyers would still be interested even in the range of the vehicle were as low as 60 miles.
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Answer 2

People will do anything not to change, and corporations are worse because they are colonies of people not willing to change. If electric cars work and last longer that would reduce the number of cars sold in the short term so it must not be allowed... Did you notice that in 1971 a car still only cost a few thousand dollars, but only lasted for 4 years, now a golf cart sized vehicle costs 15,000 bucks because they are selling fewer and fewer of them because they last so much longer and the competition forced our manufacturers to produce a higher quality of vehicle and they still tried to keep paying the UAW their ridiculous wages and themselves 10 million dollar bonuses. Greed and fear kill all great plans.

Answer 3

They just didn't see a profit in it, and didn't want other people to benefit from their research.

Answer 4

Because they are GM, not GE.