DETROIT — General Motors repaid the $8.1 billion in loans it got from the U.S. and Canadian governments, a move its CEO says is a sign the automaker is on the road to recovery.

GM CEO Ed Whitacre will formally announce the loan paybacks today at the company's Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kan., where he also will announce GM is investing $257 million in that factory and the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, both of which will build the next generation of the midsize Chevrolet Malibu.

GM got a total of $52 billion from the U.S. government and $9.5 billion from the Canadian and Ontario governments as it went through bankruptcy protection last year. The U.S. considered as a loan $6.7 billion of the aid, while the Canadian governments held $1.4 billion in loans.

The U.S. government payments, made Tuesday, came five years ahead of schedule, and Whitacre said they are a sign the automaker is on its way toward reducing government ownership of the company. The payments on the Canadian loans also were made Tuesday.

GM still owes $45.3 billion to the U.S. and $8.1 billion to Canada, money it received in exchange for large stakes in the company. The U.S. government now owns 61 percent of the company and Canada owns roughly 12 percent.