[1] Puma originated with Italian-born Brazilian immigrant and designer Rino Malzoni, who conceived of a vehicle with a sporty looking fiberglass body mounted on a production car chassis, with engine and suspension modifications to boost performance.

[2][3] This idea moved Malzoni to create a prototype racing car, developed on his farm in Matão in the interior of São Paulo.

It had the support of Veículos e Máquinas Agrícolas S.A. (Vemag), the Brazilian DKW representative, who supplied an engine and rolling chassis with the goal of unseating Willys at the Autodromo de Interlagos.

The prototype, which had a front-mounted 981 cc (59.9 cu in), three-cylinder DKW engine and weighed 720 kg (1,587 lb), posted five wins at Interlagos in 1964, and won the main races the following year.

[2][3] With the enormous success of the model and several victories in various competitions in the same year the first vehicle was launched, Sociedade de Automóveis Lumimari Ltda was founded by several car enthusiasts including Luiz Roberto Alves da Costa (LU) Milton Masteguin (MI) ), Mário César de Camargo Filho (MA) and Rino Malzoni.

[3] In 1966 the brand was renamed to Puma Veículos e Motores Ltda at the suggestion of the head of the competition department at Vemag, Jorge Lettry.

[3] In 1969, Puma made a limited edition of its sports cars to be drawn in Quatro Rodas magazine, one of the most important magazines in the automotive world in the country, the model in question was the Puma GT4R, in which only 3 were produced for the draw, in copper, blue and green; later on, another model was made, this one for Malzoni.

Puma began developing a new model based on the GTI, called the P-016, which would have its own chassis, a modern suspension, and a water-cooled engine.

Puma sports vehicles continued to be produced until 1993, until it was discontinued and Alfa Metais Veículos remained active.

[2][7] Puma returned to activity in 2013 initially with the partnership of two enthusiastic entrepreneurs: Fernando Mesquita and Reginaldo Galafazzi, who created the Mesgaferre Automobile Society.

[8] The new model would be manufactured with lines inspired by the classic Puma “shark” GTE and with a fiberglass body, as well as a central-rear engine and tubular structure.

The main idea was to produce a batch of 25 to 30 cars to create its own automobile category, sponsored by Jan Balder, director of competitions at Puma and former driver, partner of Emerson Fittipaldi in the legendary Thousand Miles of 1966, driving a GT Malzoni.