DETROIT – General Motors Co. said Monday it lost $1.2 billion from the time it left bankruptcy protection through Sept. 30, far better than it has reported in previous quarters and a sign that the auto giant is starting to turn around its business.

The company also said it will begin repaying $6.7 billion in U.S. government loans with a $1.2 billion payment in December. It plans to repay the debt over the next eight quarters, but could pay it back as early as next year. But the money will come from funds lent by the government.

GM said its improved performance was fueled by new products including the Chevrolet Camaro muscle car and the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain midsize crossover vehicles.

The company’s top sellers through October were the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and Impala full-size car.

Workers at GM’s Allen County truck plant make the Silverado and the GMC Sierra.

The better showing also reflected lower debt payments. The automaker paid $250 million in interest for the latest period, far lower than the $1.1 billion it had to pay in the first quarter, before it went into bankruptcy protection.

Before Chapter 11, GM was weighed down by a huge debt of almost $95 billion that has since been cut to $17 billion.

GM’s global presence helped the company, particularly in China, where its sales of 478,000 in the third quarter increased 6 percent over the second quarter. GM earned $429 million before taxes and interest at its Asia Pacific unit, which includes China, and $245 million in Latin America. It had pretax losses of $651 million in North America and $437 million in Europe.

“We have significantly more work to do, but today’s results provide evidence of the solid foundation we are building for the new GM,” CEO Fritz Henderson said in a statement.

The company cautioned that the earnings numbers mean little because they don’t comply with U.S. accounting standards and cover only the part of the quarter after GM left Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 10.