I work at GM and have read several books on the subject.
GM DID pursue some moonshots - see below.
In my opinion GM's great downfall was not pursuing continuous improvement. Top management had the belief that GM was the market leader and thus people would buy cars from the market leader. This led to all sorts of bad decisions in the service of running high-volume low quality vehicles.
V-8-6-4 L62 Engine (variable cylinder usage): It ran rough and didn't work very well - Later efforts worked much better and go under the name Active Fuel Management
EV1: some people loved it; it may have been before it's time
Quadrasteer: All 4 wheels can turn. People who bought this option loved it; not enough people bought it.
GM DID pursue some moonshots - see below.
In my opinion GM's great downfall was not pursuing continuous improvement. Top management had the belief that GM was the market leader and thus people would buy cars from the market leader. This led to all sorts of bad decisions in the service of running high-volume low quality vehicles.
V-8-6-4 L62 Engine (variable cylinder usage): It ran rough and didn't work very well - Later efforts worked much better and go under the name Active Fuel Management
EV1: some people loved it; it may have been before it's time
Quadrasteer: All 4 wheels can turn. People who bought this option loved it; not enough people bought it.