When you think of celebrities and cars who comes to your mind? Some people might think of Shahrukh Khan for his Hyundai Commercial, and Brie Larson for her Nissan commercial. But I have a different name for you Muhammad Ali yeah that is Muhammad Ali! The legendary boxer, the Civil rights activist, and every college freshman dorm had a photo of him standing over Sonny Liston. But did you know that he owned a car company based out of Brazil? Tape up your hands and buckle up because this story will float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!

First of all, how does somebody like Mohammed Ali and a small Brazilian car company like Puma meet? To find out, we need to do a little bit of backtracking to answer questions like this: what is Puma? what kind of car was it? How did Muhammad Ali get involved?

Industrialization in Brazil

Will first need to take a brief look history of the car industry in Brazil. Pre-1956 Brazil was mostly an agricultural Nation whose main export was coffee. The only notable thing related to the car industry was that Ford had been there since 1919 assembling Model T’s in Sao Paulo. However, during the 1950s, the Brazilian government made efforts to industrialize the country, and one of the big steps they took to achieve that was to encourage domestic car production. 

Brazil applied heavy import taxes on vehicles that were not produced in the country and banned import altogether for a long time, and to be Frank, these import taxes and bans worked!  To avoid these new hurdles, General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen would all soon build their factories within Brazil, but before the foreign companies set up shop this burgeoning industry also accelerated the creation of local Brazilian automakers and they were a little different as well. These first Brazilian car companies were mostly of the specialty in kit car variety. 

One of these cars for the DKW Malzoni was built in Sao Paulo and gained popularity rather quickly.

The first automaker in Brazil

Let me break down the name so we can understand what both DKW and Malzoni represent: Dkw was a German automaker. They were one of the original 4 auto Union banks and the Brazilian arm of the company was called DKW Vemag. DKW Vemag concentrated on producing cars for middle-class Brazilians. Malzoni was the name of the man that built the car, Genaro “Rino” Malzoni. He was a lawyer but also an avid car enthusiast and race car driver. At DKW Vemag’s request, Malzoni was asked to build a competition car.

Based around DKW 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine to complete in Motorsport. Originally when the car was built the Steel body was too heavy so they switched to fiberglass instead. Soon afterward it debuted in 1964 and the DKW Malzoni won its first Race at Autodromo Jose Carlos pace that same year, not a bad start! 

Production of Dkw Malzoni

Following the win, DKW Malzoni gained popularity and Malzoni could not handle production on his own. So he started a new company with a few of his buddies to build this car. They called it the Lumimari company. Something to keep in mind is that it was very hard for these things companies to keep up with the big brands from outside Brazil. Lumimari started production with around 35 cars a year but quickly increased to 100. 

There were two versions of Malzoni, the first origin was called Spartan. It was used for racing and lacked a luxury car department since it had little to no internal comforts. The other version was geared toward the general public and was built to be more sophisticated, it had upgrades like leather upholstery to have the higher and field. In 1966 the Lumimari company was renamed Puma. The Malzoni one is now known as the Puma GT. 

This new version leaped from a limited production car to a fully realized vehicle for consumers. It sported a refreshed design that had smoother lines and was designed with a greater focus on daily driving. The car achieved instant success and was praised for its awesome looks and performance. It was awarded Brazil's most beautiful car, by the magazine Quattro Rodas(Brazilian magazine). The Italian Carrozzeria Nuccio Bertone was the designer of the Lamborghini Mira, Aspada, and Countach (Car brands) which was a pretty big get for the magazine. 

Volkswagen purchased the company Dkw

Meanwhile, in 1967 Volkswagen purchased DKW and hold back manufacturing of any of the DKW-specific parts. Without a DKW chassis and motor to source, the Puma GT needed to change the design. 

Their new car was based around the rear engine air-cooled Volkswagen Karmann Gia sold in Brazil. This meant the Puma GT was going from a front-engine front-wheel-drive car to a rear-engine rear-wheel-drive car. That's quite the shift from our generation to another generation. It’s very rare to do it. Usually, it goes from rear-wheel drive to front-wheel drive and, not front-wheel to rear-wheel and rear engine that is crazy!

The new car design was inspired by the Lamborghini Mira and Ferrari Dino 260 GT. This beautiful new car wasn’t gonna be exclusive to the Brazilian market either. In the 1970 and into the 80s complete cars we've been sent to Canada and there was a Kit car version sold in the US. The buyer purchases the car without the front suspension or transaxle or engine or tires and a lot of staff. Instead, You have to supply the missing components either from a partner distributor or the buyer could supply the needed part themselves. 

Muhammad Ali enters the auto industry

Unfortunately, Brazil was slowed down due to the economic crisis in the 1980s and it impacted Puma causing them to file for bankruptcy. The company was sold twice once in 1985 and then again in the next year and this is ladies and gentlemen when Muhammad Ali comes into the picture.

In 1986 while the company was being sold for the second time the production rights had been sold to a firm called Araucaria Vehicles. Surprisingly even during the gloomy transition period for Puma, they still had one loyal employee…. who was still trying his best to help them. Puma had a spokesman in Texas named Kevin Haines. Why is this important?

The time when Ali Purchased the falling car company

Well, he was a friend of Mohammed Ali Haines mentioned Puma to  Ali and convinced the retired boxer to invest in the company. Muhammad Ali took him up on his offer. Actually, he went down to Brazil with an engineer and an additional consultant along with a Lawyer and a buddy to learn more about Puma. 

Soon after he formed the Ali vehicle industry and decided they would produce a new version of Puma GT called the Ali Stinger, cars development started quickly and according to an article from 1987, there were 20 prototypes of Stinger made with the Porsche flat 6 from the 911 inside. There were gonna be three different versions of Ali Stinger offered a hardtop, a convertible, and the most expensive version that would have a sophisticated finish with white and red seats for sportier appearances. 

Marketing of Ali Stinger

The hype for this car was built. Muhammad Ali remained closely involved in and out as well. In front of the press, he disclosed everything that the legendary Mohammed Ali said about his car. A newspaper from Brazil quoted him saying, “The car will be as I was in the ring”. It will later be around like a butterfly and sting like a bee. He was showing up and Ads for the car. 

Deal with Al Fassi

Ali had plans to expand sales to North America, Europe, and Saudi Arabia. Ali would need help with the last part. So he formed a deal with quite an interesting fellow named Mohd Al Fassi. Mohammed Al Farsi or self-proclaimed Sheikh Mohammed Al Fassi was a Moroccan Saudi businessman related to a marriage of the Saudi royal family. This guy is in the running for one of the most absurd people to have ever lived. 

It was rumored that he had a 170-member entourage, an extra limousine for his camera crew, and one time he had a title so long that it took a full page on his passport. Al Fassi was known to send $50 to strangers. If they wrote him a down-on-luck story then he was quoted as saying, “I am using all my power to help people", Muslim, Jewish it doesn't matter. “I feel like I am helping people as it gives me satisfaction”, he stated. In 1982 diplomat hotel in Hollywood, Florida demanded that he pay his $1.56 million bills. Al Fassi came back and sued the hotel for $1 billion claiming malicious prosecution. This guy was on another level!

The time when Ali meets Al Fassi

So what did Muhammad Ali and Mohammed Al Fassi had planned?  Ali broke a deal with Sheikh Al Fassi to order 400 special editions of Puma P-108 convertible to be called Puma Al Fassi and sell them throughout the Middle East. Some sources say it was 440 cars others say 1444 cars, but with Al, and Fassi involved who really cares. Two prototypes were built around 1988 and 1989 with a big old Al Fassi badge on the rear and with smaller images on the quarter panels. 

The cars were gonna be imported from Brazil but before they were sent off they’re actually were going to be modified to pass European car standards. Basically, the whole car was widened, the headlight design was tweaked to square sealed beams, and the dash and interior material were operated with wood. Now at this point, everything seems to be going pretty well right? So why hasn't anyone heard about these cars?

The downfall of Al Fassi and Puma Al Fassi

Well, remember when I mentioned how acentric Al Fassi was? That came back to bite him Mohammed Al Farsi publicly declared support for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War. This declaration resulted in him being put under house arrest in Saudi Arabia for 3 years and then eventually banished from Saudi Arabia altogether. He fled the country and took any movable assets he could with them including Boeing 707 (airplane). 

His remaining assets in the town were either confiscated or frozen killing his deal to bring over Puma Al Fassi. 

Muhammad Ali stepped down from his production

This was a fatal blow to Puma and Mohammed Ali's plan because there was $36 million invested in the production of the cars for Alpha Fassi. Mohammed Ali was forced to give up the production rights of the Puma to another company called Alpha Metals which produced the final run of Pumas in Brazil. This new financial turmoil combined with Brazil lifting the ban that stopped imported cars from coming into Brazil was the last nail in the coffin for Puma. Unfortunately, Puma’s wild run finally came to an end in 1995, until it came back! what?

Return of Puma GT 

Unbelievably Puma returned in 2013 to South Africa under the name Puma Automobiles. In 2017 they rebuild the former GT 2.4 Lumimari. There are only 10 to be made. It looks pretty awesome but is just basically a whole new company now and the only car they make has a crazy name called Youbian and it costs about 1.1 million dollars.

Most people only remember Muhammad Ali for his boxing but his brief stint in the car industry is without a doubt one of the crazy stories. There probably isn't another instance of a sports icon who tried to sell cars to a self-proclaimed Sheikh in Saudi Arabia using a South American-based car company that was facing constant financial struggles.