DETROIT, April 21 (UPI) -- The White House confirmed Wednesday that U.S. automaker General Motors Co. had paid off its $6.7 billion government loan.
The final $5.4 billion payment, which included $700 million in interest, was made in conjunction with $1.1 billion sent to the governments of Canada and Ontario, The Detroit News reported.
The News said Wednesday that GM tapped an escrow account set up by the Treasury to repay the loans.
The payoff does not divorce the taxpayer or the government from the company, which went through bankruptcy last summer. The government maintains ownership of 61 percent of GM after converting about $42 billion in loans into equity shares last year.
With business picking up, however, sources said GM plans to spend an additional $120 million on the Detroit-Hamtramck plant in Michigan, known as the Poletown plant.
GM said in December it would invest $336 million in the facility that is slated to produce the Chevrolet Volt, which is scheduled to debut in the fall.
In addition to the upgrade at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Edward Whitacre Jr. was scheduled on Wednesday to announce a $130 million expansion of the Fairfax Assembly plant near Kansas City, Kan., so it could increase production of the Chevrolet Malibu.
GM has already shut down Malibu production in Orion Township, Mich., to switch that factory over to small car production, the News said.
