GM's Warren Battery Labs are full of very smart scientist.
GM's alternative propulsion group is full of very smart electrical engineers, many who have worked at Tesla and know what Tesla is doing. But they are considered weirdos by GM Big Wigs.
GM hired Marc Tarpenning as a consultant. Marc is a Tesla co-founder but no longer with the company. He gave them a blueprint on how to leverage GM's resources to crush Tesla.
Marc's report is gathering dust in some file cabinet.
Although they have some very smart people, GM is institutionally incapable of making consistently good decisions.
Whether the CEO is a man, woman, or transgendered it does not matter.
And the situation is similar but not as bad at Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Ford, and Fiat-Chrysler.
Nissan-Renault is a bit better and Hyundai's success is so recent they are not quite so full of themselves yet.
But no one has a serious competitor for the Model S on the horizon.