The popularity of American-made used cars in New Jersey may be on the rise following Monday’s announcement that General Motors has named current chairman and acting CEO Ed Whitacre its permanent chief operating officer.

Whitacre, who took over for former GM head Fritz Henderson two months ago on an interim basis, had been leading the search for the auto manufacturer’s new CEO when the board of directors asked him if he would stay on as a permanent replacement.

“I was both honored and pleased to accept this role,” said Whitacre, 68, “so I’m going to do it for a while.”

During the press conference, Whitacre promised that GM will repay all of its government loans by June 2010, totaling almost $6.7 billion. The former AT&T CEO also indicated that GM is aiming for an initial public offering of stock for the public, but did not set a timetable for that to happen, according to AutoWeek.com.

Meanwhile, Whitacre said that GM will continue to plan to wind down Saab, even though the automaker is negotiating with Dutch carmaker Spyker about a sale.