'May The Best Car Win' campaign working; Angela Merkel got her money back(BridgeLoan); Tax Payers to get a return.This IS The "New" GM -MTuzmen

GM repays $297.6 million to Germany for Opel loan

General Motors Co. last week  repaid 200 million euros ($297.6 million) in German government aid that kept its carmaker Adam Opel GmbH afloat this year.

GM also said it will repay another 400 million euros ($595 million) by Nov. 30.

The payment comes more than a week after GM's board of directors voted to keep Opel instead of selling it to Canada's Magna International Inc. and its Russian partner, Sberbank.

The 1.5 billion euro ($2.2 billion) bridge loan was intended to keep Opel operating until a deal was finalized or rejected.

GM is now preparing its own $4.5 billion restructuring of Opel...

(Photo: Fritz Henderson-GM CEO/ Angela Merkel-German Chancellor)

GM speeds repayment of loans to taxpayers...

Carmaker to pay $1B per quarter, starting Dec. 31, as finances gain .

GM's board of directors and the U.S. Treasury approved the repayment plan that will begin with a $1 billion payment Dec. 31, a person with knowledge of the plan said Sunday night. GM will make payments of about $1 billion every quarter, at least until the second half of 2010, the earliest that it plans an initial public stock offering.

(Photo: Ed Whitacre -GM Chairman)

GM by the numbers
$50 billion-Amount of U.S. government aid
$6.7 billion-Amount currently owed to the U.S. government
$1 billion-Quarterly payments to the U.S., to start at the end of December
2011 When GM plans to have loan fully repaid, four years ahead of time
61%-Percentage of the automaker owned by the U.S. government

GM's plan to repay taxpayers $6.7 billion early suggests that the automaker has gained traction and raises the chances that it can sell shares to the public sooner rather than later.
The debt was originally scheduled to be retired by July 2015. As soon as next month, the automaker is to begin repaying the U.S. Treasury Department $1 billion and the Canadian government $250 million each quarter, according to a source familiar with talks between GM and the government.

GM posts $1.2-billion loss, says 'solid foundation' formed
In a positive sign that General Motors Co.’s restructuring is off to a good start, the company today said it would begin repaying U.S. government loans later this year, ahead of what is required, and that it lost $1.2 billion in the third quarter after emerging from bankruptcy.
GM said it expects to have a negative cash flow during the final three months of this year for a number of reasons, including continued restructuring costs and loan payments.
Because of this, GM expects its cash balance to be materially lower than $42.6 billion.

All Well Done Fritz!