Ford Taunus TC suspended with a conventional wishbone suspension, which eschewed shock absorbers and gave the car a soft 'freeway' ride and, with the heavier 6-cylinder engines, a tendency to excessive understeer. Press criticism of the trade-off between the car's road-holding and ride-comfort soon evolved into a more general critique, not convincingly addressed by the manufacturer for several years, that Ford had launched the Taunus TC before they had finished developing it. A telescopic steering column designed to collapse in the event of a frontal collision (rather than penetrate the driver's chest) had been mainstream in competitor models from Opel and Volkswagen for
Puma (car manufacturer) increasingly import-friendly regulations of the mid 1980s and turmoil in the company are widely considered to be among the main factors that ended the production of the first generation of Puma's Brazilian produced automobiles. During this era, Puma sourced engines from DKW (3 cylinders), Volkswagen (4 cylinders) and General Motors (4 and 6 cylinder) and mounted them on their own chassis and Fiberglass bodies. A select number of cars were exported to US markets during the 1970s to the 1980s, but a more cost effective Kit car option was responsible for the majority of US models. The Kit car variant