From late 1938 Ringhoffer-Tatra AG was integrated into the Nazi economic system as a strategic armaments manufacturer. The Tatrawerkes in Koprovince focused its production on heavy trucks for the Wehrmacht, but soon expanded into tank (petrol) and marine (diesel) engines, half-tracks and in 1944, a light-weight, high-speed eight-wheel drive armored scout car. The SdKfZ 234 had been developed in Germany by Bussing AG, which also specialized in heavy truck production. Bussing and other manufacturers built the bodies and generally fitted their own petrol engines, which was preferred by the Wehrmacht, however, later in the war the Tatrawerkes were instructed to build a version of the SdKfZ 234 powered by their 12-cylinder air-cooled diesel engine (developed for the Tatra T111 heavy truck). Unfortunately, the diesel engine did not perform as well as expected in this role, so this particular version was less popular than the petrol-engined model. Nevertheless, the Puma proved to be a very versatile vehicle and were one of the fastest armored vehicles to serve in the Second World War.
See the video below for an overview:
This review by the British Tank Museum at Bovington discusses the difficulties the Germans' had with the Tatra diesel engine that was fitted to later versions of this iconic vehicle.
A British performance report on the Tatra V12 engine can found here: https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/2022/04/bios-final-report-1311-design-and.html
The Raupenschlepper-Ost, originally designed by Tatra engineer, Erich Uberlacker, formerly of Tatra, was powered by a Tatra inspired V8 air-cooled diesel: https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/2023/01/1942-steyr-raupenschlepper-ost.html
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