About

I've spent nearly two decades inside the auto industry. Here's what I learned.

Cars are personal.

They get us to work, to school, to the people we love. They sit in our driveways through every season of our lives. We spend hours in them every week — sometimes more time than we spend in our own living rooms.

But the products built to take care of them were never made for the cars we actually drive today. They were formulated for combustion engines, vinyl interiors, and paint chemistries from another era. When Tesla and Rivian rewrote what a car could be, the car care industry didn't keep up.

What I did before this

I've worked across the auto industry on and off since 2008 — at Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, and at Cox Automotive working on Kelley Blue Book alongside the AutoTrader team. I've sat in product meetings, dealer showrooms, and marketing rooms watching how cars get built, sold, and lived with. The brands I worked on, you've probably used to research or buy your last car.

Then I bought a 2025 Tesla Model Y and a Rivian R1S.

And every car care product I'd trusted for fifteen years suddenly felt wrong. Ammonia-based glass cleaners damaged the tinted windows. Acidic interior cleaners eroded the vegan leather. The all-purpose sprays I'd used for years couldn't even lift kids' mineral sunscreen off the seats — modern problems for modern cars, and the legacy formulas weren't built for either.

So I built what should have existed from the start.

Why "Luma Auto"

Luma comes from "illuminate" — the EV is the future of driving, and a brand built for it should reflect that.

路馬 (Lù Mǎ) means "road horse" in Chinese. Two characters, two meanings — road and horse — that together form the heart of the brand.

My mother was born in China and raised in Taiwan. My father was an American Air Force sergeant stationed overseas, and they met, married, and built their family in California. I grew up between two cultures — half Chinese, half American — and that combination is the foundation of who I am.

When my mother passed in 2023, the Chinese half of my identity became something I had to carry forward instead of something I shared with her. Building a brand that honors that heritage — alongside the American auto industry I've spent my career in — felt like the right way to keep her with me.

2026 is the Year of the Horse. So is the year my firstborn was born. The horse in our logo is for both of them: the mother who gave me half of who I am, and the kids who carry the next half forward.

A road horse is steady. Goes the distance. Gets you home. That's what I want every Luma Auto product to be.

What we make

Premium car care, formulated in California specifically for Tesla and Rivian. Floor mats, interior accessories, and protection products are coming in 2026. Every product is tested on my own 2025 Model Y and R1S before it ever reaches you.

One person's brand, built carefully, for the cars we actually drive.

Sean Liu McLean
Founder, Luma Auto