GM’s CEO drops in to a Kansas City-area plant to announce the company will invest $135 million dollars to produce the next generation Chevy Malibu there. GM CEO Ed Whitacre also announced to Fairfax Assembly Plant workers, and the media outlets on site Wednesday morning, that the company is taking steps to become independent again.

“We have repaid in full and with interest the loans made last July by the U.S. Treasury and export development in Canada to help launch the new GM,” Whitacre said.

Due to the structure of the government bailout plan, though, the taxpayers still own 61% of GM stock. The Fairfax plant also produces the Buick Lacrosse, which Whitacre says is one of GM’s better performing models as of late.

“These cars, this plant and the men and women that work here, and the managers that lead these people represent so much of what is going right with GM these days,” Whitacre said.

The Kansas City Star reports the investment is not expected to create new jobs, but will allow the nearly 980 third-shift workers that recently transferred to the plant from others around the country to have a longer-term position. The Fairfax plant is located in Kansas City, KS, but employs hundreds of Missourians.