page_title: Puma (car manufacturer)
section_title: Other products
hierarchical_section_title: Puma (car manufacturer) / Volkswagen era / Other products
caption_attribution_description: Made by the same Puma that built the VW based fiberglass sports cars.
context_page_description: Puma is a sports car manufacturer based in South Africa. Puma was originally based in Brazil where it built cars, from 1964 until roughly 1995, and trucks, from 1978 to 1999. The company then re-opened in South Africa in 2013 under the name of Puma Automobiles. Puma Automobiles manufactures the Puma 52 and the Puma GT 2.4 Lumimari.
  In Brazil, Puma sourced engines from DKW, Volkswagen and General Motors and mounted them on their own chassis and fiberglass bodies. A small number of cars were exported to US markets during the 1970s to the 1980s, but a more cost effective kit car option was responsible for the majority of US imports. The kit car variant was a complete car exported without the front suspension, transaxle, engine, wheels, and tires. The buyer could purchase the components from a Puma North American distributor or supply their own. Since it had less restrictive regulations, a greater number of complete cars were exported to buyers in Canada.
  Production of the first models started in 1964 using DKW components and a front engine, front wheel design. These models were sold and manufactured exclusively for auto racing.
context_section_description: The larger Puma GTB (coupé only), which used a front-mounted Chevrolet straight-six engine, was not regularly exported. Puma also showed a few project cars over the years, such as the Mini-Puma city car in 1974, with a wheelbase of only 179 cm (70.5 in). The Mini-Puma would have been fitted with a halved Volkswagen 1500 boxer-four, with 760 cc and 30 PS (22 kW) engine. However, Puma was unable to raise the funds needed for production. In 1982 Puma had plans to license-build the Daihatsu Cuore locally (also as the "Mini-Puma"), but failed due to the company's large debts and company mismanagement.
  Puma's trucks were of a fiberglass cab-over design, with proprietary diesel engines manufactured by MWM and Perkins (the 4.236 was a well known example). A Chevrolet inline-six, powered by ethanol, was also available for use on bus body models which were mounted on the same truck chassis. The bodywork of the Puma truck was redesigned in 1978 for the 4.T model and there was also the six-ton, 6.T from 1979.  After Alfa Metais took over the company, there were several new designs. All designs were largely based on the 4.T models. Production of the trucks came to a halt in 1999.
  Puma designer Anisio Campos also designed the Dacon 828 city car in 1982. The first eleven of these cars were built at Puma's factory rather than by Dacon themselves.
caption: Puma 4.T
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