General Motors has been speeding down the track like a train with a purpose. What is GM’s purpose? To pay out all of their outstanding loans and invest for a better tomorrow. General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive confirmed today that General Motors has made payment on the $5.4 billion loan (2 billion of the loan was already paid) to the U.S. government, $700M of which was interest. Ouch. This payment was made five years ahead of schedule and illustrates GM’s progress since declaring bankruptcy last July. General Motors->ke1024 has also been able to repay loans to the Canadian and Ontario governments totaling $1.1 billion (in addition to the $400 million already paid). How’s that for progress?

So, what’s next for GM? Whitacre says GM will invest $120 million in the Detroit factory they call “Poletown” and $136 million at the Kansas City plant where the current Malibu->ke1034 and the Buick LaCrosse are produced. Poletown will be the specific factory in which the 2012 Chevy Malibu will be assembled.

GM will also roll the Chevy Volt off the assembly line in October, a whole month before the anticipated date. This may be due to the $336 million put in Poletown to prepare it for the Volt’s production.

"We are moving at GM and improving at a rapid pace," Whitacre said. "This is the new pace of GM today." You can say that again.