Basam and Tanya Robin the new owners of Superior Buick GMC.

DEARBORN — After 35 years, Superior Buick GMC is under new ownership. Basam and Tanya Robin have purchased the business from its original owner, Walter Schwartz, making the dealership one of the few GMC dealer franchises owned and operated by Iraqi immigrants. 

Although the Robins have owned the business for less than a month, their hands-on approach to daily business operations has given their dealership the highest January two-week GMC sales in the country, exceeding expectations, which is especially impressive in a city traditionally known as “Ford country.”

But the Chaldean couple said the dealership is not just about selling cars and turning a profit, but also serving and giving back to the community any way they can. 

“I want to build relationships,” Basam Robin said. “We started with very little and we want to help out the Arab community anyway we can. There are people out there who need help and you don’t have to know a person to help them out.” 

Unlike the case at most dealerships, the couple has adapted Arab American values to customer service, with the aim to make people who come in feel more like part of the family rather than just a client in the market for a GM vehicle. 

“When a customer comes into the store, I want them to feel like they’re coming into our home and we treat them as such,” Tanya Robin said.

The couple also wants to improve the lives of their employees. Basam said not many Arab mechanics in Michigan are certified to work on GM vehicles, which bogs down their ability to find higher paying jobs and slows down career advancement. He said he connects with his employees on a one-on-one basis to find ways to help get more of his staff certified. 

“Some people don’t have any opportunities,” he said. “But I know they can do these things. We want to get more people trained so we can help take them to the next level.” 

In the early 80’s, the Robin family fled Iraq to escape the Iran-Iraq war. They relocated to Jordan initially, but found themselves in Italy, and then Greece, for eight months before finally settling in the United States in late 1982. 

“We didn’t have anything when we got here; my older brothers and I all worked at the Everfresh juice factory,” Basam said. “I knew I had to own my own business; that is the only way to do it in this country.” 

Basam was not cut out for factory work and would quit his job at Everfresh after a year. He said came to America to become an entrepreneur and to own a business; and at just age 24 he would realize that dream. 

The couple transformed a nursery owned by Tanya’s father into BT Auto, a used car dealership in Detroit. Tanya was just 19 when they started the business and attending college, working towards a finance degree from Wayne State University. Although they were young and sometimes faced tough times, the couple’s businesses thrived. 

“We worked together as a team,” Tanya said. “Basam’s eldest brother helped with the initial financial investment and gave us the initial push we needed. After that, we were on our own.” 

The couple would sell BT Auto in 2005 and become wholesalers of used, late-model vehicles who provided dealers with their lot inventory. They provided Schwartz with inventory during the 2008 financial crisis, losing money on every car they provided. But Schwartz needed the Robins’ inventory to stay afloat, and in return promised to help the couple buy the dealership from him when he was close to retirement.

In late 2014, Schwartz came through on his promise and helped set the gears in motion to allow the couple to become the new owners of Superior Buick GMC.

“If he was going to take 35 years of his hard work, he was not going to give it to just anybody that would just take it for the year and blow it down the drain,” Tanya said. “He knew we could  turn it into something amazing.”

Although the couple has seen their entrepreneurial and investment efforts flourish, they have kept a down-to-earth mentality towards their success. 

“Don’t ever let success get to your head,” Tanya said. “Be humble at heart and at mind.”

Superior Buick GMC is located at 14505 Michigan Ave.