Puma

Company Profile

Puma (Puma Indústria de Veículos S.A.) was a legendary Brazilian specialized automobile manufacturer headquartered in São Paulo. Globally celebrated for its breathtakingly beautiful styling, the company stands as the most commercially successful independent sports car brand in South American history. Utilizing lightweight fiberglass bodies mated to robust Volkswagen and General Motors powertrains, Puma became a defining symbol of Latin American automotive passion.

Official Corporate Name: Puma Indústria de Veículos S.A. (Originally founded as Sociedade de Automóveis Lumimari)

Founders: Rino Malzoni, Milton Masteguin, Mário César de Camargo Filho, and Luis Roberto Alves da Costa.

Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil

Founded: 1964 (Production expanded through the 1970s; original factory closed in 1995)

Core Business: Fiberglass-bodied sports coupes, convertibles, lightweight racing prototypes, and industrial commercial trucks.

Development History

The brand originated in 1964 under the corporate name Lumimari, formed by a group of passionate Italian-Brazilian racers and mechanics. The engineering genius of the operation was Rino Malzoni, who designed a stunning, aerodynamic fiberglass body to mount onto a modified DKW front-wheel-drive chassis. In 1966, following immense praise on local race tracks, the company officially rebranded as Puma Veículos e Motores.

Puma's history is defined by two golden mechanical eras:

1. The Volkswagen Era (1967–1980s)

In 1967, DKW was bought out by Volkswagen, forcing Puma to rapidly re-engineer its cars. This crisis became their greatest blessing. Puma designed a brand-new, rear-engine sports car based on the shortened chassis of the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia.

The Puma GT / GTE / GTS: Draped in a low-slung, ultra-sleek body that heavily resembled a scaled-down Ferrari Dino or Alpine A110, these models became immediate sensations. Driven by highly reliable, air-cooled VW boxer engines, they were fast, affordable, and incredibly easy to maintain.
Global Exports: Puma achieved massive international acclaim, establishing assembly lines in South Africa and exporting thousands of finished sports cars to the United States, Canada, and Europe.

2. The General Motors Era (1971–1990s)

To cater to drivers demanding brute American muscle, Puma launched the Puma GTB (Gran Turismo Brasil) in 1971. This was a larger, front-engine grand tourer featuring an aggressive muscle-car stance. Under the fiberglass hood sat a heavy-duty 4.1-litre inline six-cylinder engine from Chevrolet (General Motors Brazil). The GTB became the most expensive and highly coveted luxury sports car on the Brazilian market.

Facing severe floods that destroyed its tooling in 1985, alongside Brazil opening its borders to modern foreign imports in 1990, Puma struggled to compete. The branding rights were briefly leased to other local manufacturers before original vehicle production permanently ceased in 1995. (The brand was revived in 2013 for small-scale track-day racing prototypes like the Puma GT Lumimari).

Historical Significance

Puma holds monumental historical weight as a national icon of Brazilian industrial capability. During the decades of heavy economic isolationism, Puma proved that a South American nation could manufacture a world-class, collector-grade sports car capable of turning heads on the streets of Miami, Tokyo, and Frankfurt.

Furthermore, Puma acted as an elite incubator for Brazilian automotive talent; many of its co-founders and engineers later went on to establish other historic brands you have previously named, such as Chamonix. Today, vintage early-generation Pumas are highly prized, blue-chip investments in global classic car auction blocks.