VW to sell Performance unit of Cosworth to Ford

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Ford To Buy Engine Unit from VW

.c The Associated Press

 LONDON (AP) - U.S. automaker Ford said Monday it will buy the racing
operations of the Cosworth engine company from the German carmaker Audi AG for
an undisclosed price.

The deal announced Monday for Cosworth Racing, based in Northampton, England,
comes only a day after Audi bought the engine company for $191 million from
the conglomerate Vickers PLC.

Cosworth Racing and Ford have had close ties for 30 years, and Ford said the
deal will let them keep working together in the racing engine business while
Audi concentrates on Cosworth's other engine-marking operations.

``The agreement will allow Cosworth Racing to continue to draw on Ford's
global engineering capabilities in meeting our commitments in Formula One,
Indycar and Touring Car Racing,'' said Martin Whitaker, motorsport director of
Ford of Europe, a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Co., based in Dearborn, Mich.

Audi, a unit of Germany's Volkswagen AG, bought Cosworth as part of
Volkswagen's earlier deal to buy Rolls-Royce Motor Cars from Vickers.

Volkswagen paid the equivalent of $780 million when it closed on the Rolls-
Royce deal on July 3. Vickers is getting out of the luxury auto business to
concentrate on other operations, including defense contracting.

AP-NY-07-13-98 0904EDT

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