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General Motors interim chief executive and chairman Ed Whitacre said Monday he agreed to be permanent CEO at the struggling US auto giant, and vowed to repay government loans by June.
Whitacre had stepped in as the temporary CEO after Fritz Henderson quit the position last December as the number one American auto company reeled from financial crisis.
He said he agreed to be permanent CEO after the GM board asked if he would be willing to stay on and "help continue the company's road back to success."
"Having spent the past few months learning the business, meeting with our employees, customers and dealers, and working with the GM leadership team, I was both honored and pleased to accept this role," he told a press conference at GM's headquarters in Detroit.
"This is a great company with an even greater future, and I want to be part of it," he said.
GM entered into bankruptcy protection on June 1 last year with liabilities of 172.8 billion dollars and 48.4 billion in debt.
Whitacre expressed the GM board's commitment that the company would pay back in full the US Treasury and the Canadian and Ontario government loans by June.
"We've made significant progress in the past couple of months, so much so that I can confirm with certainty that we will pay back in full the US Treasury and Canadian and Ontario government loans by June," Whitacre said.
"This represents a significant milestone in our journey back to being a profitable and viable company."
The Treasury Department said separately Monday that it had received a commitment from GM to repay its government debt in full in June -- "well ahead of the original repayment schedule."
GM and the Treasury "amended their loan agreement to require GM to repay the full 6.7 billion investment made under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) along with 1.4 billion dollars in repayments to the Canadian and Ontario governments by June 30, 2010," a statement said.
The TARP was part of a 700-billion-dollar government bailout approved in October 2008 to prevent the financial system, especially banks, from collapse following a crisis arising from a home mortgage meltdown.
The Treasury said it estimated total TARP repayments and proceeds from sales of its common stock in banks should exceed 185 billion dollars by the end of 2010.
General Motors received 49.5 billion dollars in government aid amid its spectacular collapse.
Much of that aid was converted into stock in the new company which emerged from bankruptcy protection in July.
The US government obtained a 61 percent stake, the Canadian government received an 11.7 percent stake, a United Auto Workers union retiree trust fund received a 17.5 percent stake and bondholders received a 10 percent stake.
Whitacre, a former chairman and CEO of telecom giant AT&T, was installed as chairman in a new company board controlled in large part by the US government under GM's bankruptcy plan.
Some analysts say Whitacre has proven to be effective head.
"His biggest challenge will be to break GM’s silo thinking, and he is off to a good start," commented Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of automotive Web site Edmunds.com.
"As he reviews the business, he's grilling people on why they do things that they do, the way they do, as only an outsider can," Anwyl said. "The last thing GM needs right now is its fourth CEO in less than a year."
Whitacre was described in a recent Wall Street Journal report as a hard-charging Texan with a penchant for killing rattlesnakes for sport.
He is known for taking over companies and imposing his will on its employees, starting at the top, the report said.
Henderson took the helm at GM in late March last year as the auto giant was headed toward bankruptcy.
He replaced Rick Wagoner, who was forced out of the job by the administration of President Barack Obama.
