copyright

To whom it may concern:
I would appreciate your help in a legal matter. I am the owner of a small company which builds "kit cars", a car made using other cars' parts/engine, and custom designed chassis & fiberglass body parts. We plan to sell our kit cars to the public (low volume production) and have named it "Puma". I recently realized that Ford Motor Company has built a small passenger car which it is selling in Europe, and their vehicle is called "Puma" as well. I believe that Ford Motor Company has copyrighted the name "Puma" for their vehicle.
My legal question is: can Ford sue my company if I go ahead and market my kit-cars with the name "Puma" even though Ford is not selling their Puma vehicle in the US? Can I add a suffix (ex: PUMA LX) to my kit cars' name and avoid such copyright law suits?
I would greatly appreciate your input on this matter or if you could refer me to someone who can help me. I am also looking for a good corporate lawyer who may be able to help me with my future legal manners. Thank you for your time and help in advance.

The issue is really TRADEMARK law rather than copyright, and that is one that my knowledge is basic, not highly specialized. Read the stuff on FreeAdvice.ocm on trademark to get a sense of it.

When you deal with a major company with deep pockets it could tie you up for years defending the name. That's not going to be very productive of your time or resources, and if the name is not vital to you, and it is not, the conservative lawyer's advice would be pick another.