GM's downward spiral: A timeline

1998

The EV1, the first electric car, is introduced in 1998. The vehicle is only available from a handful of Saturn dealerships in California and Arizona. GM spends over $1 billion on the project, and about 1,500 are released. Each car costs an estimated $80,000 to make. The EV1 project is scrapped in 1999, and the cars are removed from the roads by 2003.

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