While 500 million of anything should be impressive that’s not always the case. If a company made 500 million grains of salt or pieces of cereal that might be a good day or week, but when the product is much more substantial it’s an impressive accomplishment. General Motors has recently celebrated the fact that it has produced 500 million vehicles over the past 106 years in existence. This marks the largest number of vehicles built by any automaker and proves that GM continues to be a leader in the world when it comes to how we drive and where we go.

More customers have enjoyed one of the GM models than any other company in the world. This company has had brands under its umbrella that have included GMC, Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and more. While some of these brands have been dissolved into oblivion such as Saturn, Oldsmobile and Pontiac, many of the brands that represent the GM name still drive strong and give us more vehicles than ever that will provide us with the ride and the quality we want to enjoy on the road. Being the first to reach this milestone is certainly an effort in longevity, quality, trust and continued production.

General Motors has turned out more of the vehicles we want to drive than any other company. You can find all types of vehicles under the GM umbrella from the fuel efficiency of the Chevrolet Spark to the luxury power of the Cadillac Escalade. You can have a workhorse that will get things done when you choose the Chevrolet Silverado or the GMC Sierra and there has been a bevy of minivans, SUVs and family haulers from this amazing company that has been around for the past century.

In celebration of this event and the number of vehicles that have been produced CEO of GM Mary Barra and Executive Vice President Alan Batey held a surprise event in which they presented the keys to a new 2016 Malibu to wounded veteran Trent Brining. Trent has been a loyal Chevrolet owner all his life and this was the perfect way to honor his service while celebrating the occasion of the event that marks such an amazing number. This even took place at the Fairfax Assembly Plant which was also the location of another new announcement by Barra to the crowd in attendance.

The announcement confirmed the commitment GM has for the Fairfax Assembly Plant with plans to invest $174 million toward state of the art equipment for this plant and for $5.4 billion to be invested in improvements in US manufacturing to create more vehicles that benefit the customers. This was certainly the right time for such announcements and shows that GM is on its way to being the first company in the world to produce one billion vehicles globally. Certainly this event won’t be held until a few more generations have passed, but they are on the way toward the next goal and enjoy the impressive celebration of this amazing accomplishment.