GM To Start Repaying Bailout Debt

The automaker said it ended the third quarter with $42.6 billion in cash on hand and would make a $1 billion payment to the Treasury Department in December. It said it would make similar quarterly payments going forward.

"It's a commitment of the entire leadership team of the company to repay the taxpayers," Fritz Henderson, the company's chief executive, said in press conference.

The move comes soon after the company emerged from bankruptcy proceedings that wiped out a significant amount of debt. It has also slashed operating costs and benefited from the federal government's cash for clunkers program, which gave tax incentives for customers to buy cars.

General Motors borrowed a total of $50 billion from the government at the height of last year's financial crisis. Of that, $13.4 billion remains in an escrow account, $6.7 billion remains on the company's books, and the balance was converted into a large ownership stake held by the government, the New York Times reported.

Despite the company's interest in clearing its debt obligations, there was no indication that the company intended to redeem the government stock position any time soon. In a recent report, the Government Accountability Office said that taxpayers should expect to see losses on its stock investment because it was unlikely the share price would recover sufficiently.