Ed Whitacre, General Motors Chairman and CEO, announced Wednesday that the automaker has paid back $8.4 billion in government loans related to its historic restructuring.

The final payment of $5.8 billion to the U.S. Treasury and Canadian development interests has been made about five years ahead of schedule, and includes interest, Whitacre announced to a crowd in Kansas City.

“It’s great news from my perspective because if you think back only a year ago General Motors was shedding a lot of workers, their volumes were going down and there was a lot of despair in the auto industry as they (GM) headed towards bankruptcy,” Tracy Myers, owner of a North Carolina car dealership, said following the announcement. “The landscape of the company and our entire industry is so much different than it was a year ago and as a result consumer around the world should feel pretty good about buying GM products again.”

Whitacre’s message was delivered amid a ceremony held in Kansas, where a nearby GM plant and another in Detroit will share $257 million in investment related to the company’s popular Chevrolet Malibu sedan.

Of Whitacre’s message, Myers said two good things he takes away from it is that the money has been paid back and the automaker is announcing investment.

On April 16th, 2010, Toyota Motor Sales announced that it would launch a voluntary Safety Recall involving approximately 600,000 first and second generation Sienna minivans sold in the United States to address potential corrosion in the spare tire carrier cable.

This condition may appear on certain 1998 through 2010 model year Siennas that have been operated in cold climate areas with high road salt use. Continued prolonged exposure to road salts may cause excessive corrosion of the carrier cable in some of these vehicles. In the worst case, the carrier cable may fail and the spare tire could become separated from the vehicle, a road hazard for following vehicles that increases the likelihood of a crash.

Toyota is currently working to develop a remedy for this condition. Until this remedy is developed, customers will receive an interim notice instructing them to bring their vehicle to a dealership for a preliminary inspection.

Once the remedy has been developed, customers will receive a secondary notice advising the customer of the remedy availability.

Steve St. Angelo, Toyota Chief Quality Officer for North America, said: “Toyota is listening to its customers attentively, and we want to make sure their voices are heard. We are also working diligently to develop a remedy as soon as possible.”

Tracy Myers, owner of Winston-Salem, NC used car dealership Frank Myers Auto Maxx, said: “The Toyota Sienna has always been one of the most popular vehicles sold at my dealership. While I’m sure that lots of Sienna owners that live in the Triad are concerned with the recall, it is my understanding that Toyota has got this problem under control. I want to reassure our Toyota customers that we are committed to seeing them through this unfortunate situation. As part of that commitment, we are providing free inspections on any Sienna even in states that are not included in this recall, which include North Carolina.”

Detailed information and answers to questions are available to customers at the Frank Myers Car Care Center at (336) 831-0656.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Nancy Davis

httpsv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPqJLI5l_a0

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