Puma (car) - Volkswagen Era

Volkswagen Era

In 1967, Volkswagen bought DKW-Vemag, and the Brazilian production of DKWs ceased. With no DKW engine available, a new car was designed based around the rear-engined, air-cooled 1,500 cc Volkswagen Karmann Ghia sold in Brazil. It sold relatively well for a specialist sports car. The design, inspired by the Lamborghini Miura, was to remain largely unchanged for two decades. At this time, the company name was already changed to Puma. From 1969 the standard engine was a Volkswagen 1,600 cc unit, for which Puma also offered kits to make more power. The name changed to Puma 1600 GTE.

A convertible version, the 1600 GTS, was added sometime around 1970, and cars began to be exported at that time to other South American countries, North America and Europe. Many of the exported vehicles were kit cars - substantially complete bodyshells, but lacking engine, transmission, axles, wheels and other mechanical parts. All cars sold in Brazil were complete. Beginning in 1976 Volkswagen do Brasil began honoring the warranties of standard engines supplied to Puma (as well as for Gurgel and MP Lafer), while Puma introduced a three-month/5,000 km warranty on their tuned engines. At the same time, a 1.9 litre kit was introduced, with a bore and stroke of 88 and 78.4 mm and Mahle pistons.

VW stopped production of the Karmann-Ghia in Brazil during the early 1970s, and the Puma was redesigned to use the Volkswagen Brasilia as a base instead for 1973. Assembly of Pumas in South Africa by Bromer Motor Assemblies also began during this period. They finished 357 cars in two years, until closing due to bad finances. The bodywork was restyled in 1977, while similar in appearance the bumpers were now moulded as parts of the body, rather than being separate chrome units. The body was now somewhat less rounded than before, and coupés received rear quarter windows rather than the previous louvres. In 1980, it was time for another restyling as well as a rename. The coupé became the GTI, while the spider became the GTC. The new look included rubber bumpers with decorative cast-in ridges which mimicked the Porsche 911 G's telescopic impact bumpers. The taillights were replaced by the Volkswagen Brasilia's Mercedes-style units, all the rage at the time with Brazilian cottage manufacturers. The small push-button doorhandles were replaced with more modern units borrowed from the Alfa Romeo Ti 4.

A version utilizing the VWB Variant II's more modern chassis (albeit still with the Brasilia's front suspension) called the P 018 appeared for the 1982 model year. This had slightly wider tracks front and rear, and a rear suspension featuring semi-axles with constant-velocity joints, sprung by transverse torsion bars, rather than the Brasilia's simpler semi-trailing rear. As with other Pumas, an air-cooled 1.6 litre Volkswagen boxer-four was standard equipment, with larger 1,7, 1,8, and 2.0-litre versions available at extra cost. An annual production of 1,000 was planned, but in the end only about 55 of the P 018s were completed.