General Motors is celebrating another milestone. More than 500 million GM vehicles have been built globally in the past 106 years. GM CEO Mary Barra and GM North America and Global Chevrolet President Alan Batey celebrated the milestone Monday with customers, employees and dealers at the Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas. Mary Barra and Alan Batey also surprised Iraqi war veteran Trent Brining with a key to a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu.

According to GM, Brining is a retired Army corporal and Purple Heart recipient, was seriously injured in 2005 after being struck by a rocket-propelled grenade while patrolling a suburb of Baghdad, and has undergone 23 surgeries to his arms and legs. The grandson of a Purple Heart recipient, Brining is one of five customers who, within the next 48 hours, will be notified that they are receiving a new, regionally built GM-branded vehicle.

During the celebration Batey also announced that GM will invest $174 million in the Fairfax plant for new equipment and technology to support production of the 2016 Malibu and improve customer satisfaction.

“Every element of the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu was designed to give our customers a beautiful and high-quality sedan with technologies that will make their lives easier and safer,” said Batey. “It will all come together here at Fairfax, and the men and women who work here can hardly wait to get started.”

Production of the midsize sedan begins at the plant later this year.