The New ‘NEW GM’ Commercial

GM will invest $136M in Kansas assembly plant

via Kansas City Business Journal:

General Motors Corp. will invest $136 million in its Kansas City, Kan., plant to build its next-generation Chevrolet Malibu, Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre said in a Wednesday morning visit to the Fairfax Assembly Plant.

Overall, GM has invested in 20 U.S. and Canadian production plants during the past nine months to the tune of $1.5 billion. The investments restored or created 7,500 jobs, including 900 at Fairfax, Whitacre said.

The investment in the Fairfax Assembly Plant is part of a $257 million total investment in production of the new Chevrolet Malibu and includes GM’s Hamtramck Assembly Plant in Detroit. Whitacre said the Fairfax plant will be the main production facility for the new Chevy Malibu, and the Hamtramck plant will provide extra production capability during periods of peak demand.

The investment will bolster production of a vehicle that has been one of the hottest sellers for GM. In March, the Chevrolet Malibu was GM’s second-highest selling vehicle. Malibu sales reached 17,750, up 20.2 percent from 14,772 in March 2009.

General Motors Pays Back $8 Billion to Taxpayers

ABCNews.com reports:

General Motors today $8.1 billion in government loans repaid, five years ahead of schedule and nine months after the troubled auto giant declared bankruptcy, signaling that the auto maker may be on the path to profitability.

“As of today, GM has repaid in full and interest,” said GM CEO Ed Whitacre to a crowd assembled on floor of a GM plant in Kansas City, Kan.

To smiles and applause from workers, Whitacre also announced GM’s plan to invest $257 million in that plantand another in Detroit to ramp up production of the Chevy Malibu.

Cheering on the floor of a GM factory would have been unthinkable a year ago, when the company was on a downward spiral towards its bankruptcy in June 2009.

When it emerged from restructuring last year, GM had converted most of the $52 billion in federal bailout funds into company stock, leaving a $6.7 billion outstanding loan from the U.S. Treasury. The Canadian government lent the company an additional $1.4 billion.