General Motors Co plans to repay roughly $8 billion in debt to the United States and Canada by June, a faster payback of the first portion of its bailout than the automaker previously committed to make.
"We intend to pay the debt," GM's Chairman and acting Chief Executive Ed Whitacre said on Tuesday. "We'll be done by June."
The comments by Whitacre marked the first time GM committed to repaying its government loans within a year after it filed for bankruptcy in a restructuring steered by the Obama administration.
Whitacre, who became CEO two weeks ago when the board split with former Chief Executive Fritz Henderson, said he was not sure how long he would serve as the automaker's top executive.
"I'm enjoying it," Whitacre told reporters when asked about his new role as acting CEO.
Whitacre met reporters for the first time since becoming CEO and in the board room at the automaker's Detroit headquarters, where Henderson's career ended suddenly earlier this month.
Whitacre said he did not intend to stay for long as CEO, but had not set a time for stepping aside with GM's 12-member board. His pay as CEO will be discussed by the compensation committee of GM's board next year.
"Do I want to do it long term? I told the board no, but I haven't defined that. I can't even define that myself," Whitacre said.
He expected to announce a new chief financial officer to replace Ray Young, who is being transferred to GM's Shanghai-based international operations within two weeks.
No candidates for a permanent CEO have been identified yet and the search for an outside candidate could be complicated by pay restrictions set by the U.S. Treasury.
"We can't pay people a whole lot of money here, so that focuses you a little bit more internally," Whitacre said.
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