Cars with history: Ford Puma

A model of Ford that has become another cult car is the Puma, born from the idea of creating a coupé derived from the Ford Fiesta, which had its concept at the 1996 Geneva Motor Show, with the Lynx Concept. The latter was a convertible Fiesta with two strange arches acting as pillars. Ford had in its hands the embryo of the Ford Puma, which would be presented at the same show a year later.

It is said that the Puma was the first Ford to be designed entirely on computer, using the Paintbox system. Either way, the Puma presented in Geneva in 1997 was no longer a convertible, but an attractive coupé based on the Ford Fiesta of those days, which was going to compete openly with another “feline” on the market: the Opel Tigra.

From the outset the Puma was equipped with a sporty mechanical setup in mind. It had gearbox ratios among the closest on the market, which made it a little short for motorway use, but it had good acceleration. The engines were derived from the Fiesta’s Zetec, but were developed together with Yamaha. Over its history the Puma had several engines: the 1.4 with 90 CV, the 1.6-litre with 103 CV (which powered the Focus), the 1.7-litre with 123 CV, and the sought-after 1.7 with 153 CV used in the Ford Racing Puma, a special edition created for Germany and Great Britain.

In 2001 the Puma was discontinued, but it continued to be registered for up to two more years, the cars left in Ford’s stock; all this despite the fact that the Puma was really expensive (around 23,000 euros at today’s prices).

Today attempts to revive the Puma have so far failed, since Ford has not wanted to move forward with the concept of the Ford Focus three-door, which would have been the first purely coupé vehicle since the Puma era.

Source | Ford Wiki, Wikipedia, Club Ford Puma España