What the hell is going on? Zhang Lan frowned: Volkswagen took over the three major brands of Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Cosworth from Vickers, but only a few months later, Volkswagen sold Cosworth, a gift from Vickers, to the Ford Motor Group.

Hmm, things are a bit messed up? Zhang Lan couldn't help but scratch her head, which link went wrong? Well, not long after Volkswagen sold Cosworth to Ford, Ford didn't know what the reason for it was to foolishly sell Cosworth Engine Plant to Audi again.

Cosworth has a strong relationship with Audi in the past, with the engines of the Audi Factory's ultimate performance sports cars, the RS2 and RS4, tuned by Cosworth's engineering team.

After selling Cosworth, Ford, who seemed to have just woken up from his sleep, suddenly realized that he had done something stupid that could no longer be stupid, and the most serious consequence of his actions was that all the racing engines of the Ford Group in the future may depend on the Cosworth Engine Factory owned by Audi!

Realizing that he had done something super-stupid, the Ford Group began to negotiate with Audi to buy back the Cosworth division that made race engines.

Zhang Lan, who finally figured out the clue, finally couldn't help but curse in his heart: Volkswagen sold Cosworth to Ford as a rag, and Ford sold Cosworth to Volkswagen's subsidiary Audi, and then suddenly found that he had made a mistake Ford once again wanted to buy Cosworth back from Volkswagen's subsidiary Audi, and it was successful. That's the way it is. , are these guys all fed and holding on? What was going on in the head of the guy who made this decision at Ford? It's so simple that things are so complicated for them!

After buying back a not complete Cosworth from Audi, in order to sort out the relationship. Audi and Ford agreed to change the name of Audi's commercial engine manufacturing and manufacturing division to CosworthTechnology, and Ford's repatriated racing engine division to Cosworth Racin, but both companies retained the historic name "Cosworth". It is worth mentioning that at that time, Audi only needed the plant's extensive engine development know-how. Therefore, Cosworth Technlogy, which has an annual turnover of $250 million, does not have the right to license the "Cosworth" trademark for profit. The unlucky Cosworth, who has a lot of technology, can't be his own home, so he was tossed alive by his own boss into two companies.

In 1998, before Wickers gave Cosworth to the Volkswagen Group as an addition to Rolls-Royce and Bentley, Cosworth was not so troublesome, whether it was the production of civilian engines or the production of competition engines, all belonged to Vickers, the parent company of Cosworth!

That's right, this is it! Zhang Lan smacked herself hard! Now Cosworth is still like a poor baby with a straw mark waiting to be sold, this group of losers of the Vickers Company. I have no idea how strong Cosworth really is and what a lot of potential!

As for how strong Cosworth is really strong, just look at an example of the contribution of the Cosworth Technology engine team to the Audi factory: originally used for the Audi S4, The 4.2-litre V8 engine on the Audi S6 and Audi A8 had a power output of only 340 hp in the S6, and as soon as the Cosworth team took over and replaced it with two KKK low-boost (0.bar) turbos, the power immediately skyrocketed to 450 hp (for the RS6 model), and the maximum torque (413lbft) only arrived at 1,950 rpm, which was not counted, and continued all the way to 5,600 rpm. Cosworth's power can also be seen in the variable intake manifold: the S6's V8 engine still has a two-stage variable intake manifold, while the RS6 doesn't need it at all.

Cosworth, which currently employs more than 1,000 people, is located as far away as Northamptonshire, UK. There is also a production center in North America, Zhang Lan can be sure. Obtaining Cosworth's world-class engine R&D and manufacturing company is key to Alice Group's success as one of the world's top engine suppliers, and Cosworth's production center in Northamptonshire, England and Cosworth's research center in North America will provide valuable knowledge, as well as Cosworth's existing production lines for lightweight piston heads and engine blocks.

This is a hen that lays golden eggs every day, but now it is being sold by a bunch of fools as the most worthless broiler chicken on the chicken farm! It's still the kind that everyone kicks around like a rotten ball!

"Sister, hurry! Help me find out if Cosworth, the current British F1 engine manufacturer, is being put up for sale by its parent company, Wickers? "I finally figured out the key Zhang Lan in this. Rushing into the kitchen. grabbed Xiao Chenxi's arm who was washing the fruit, looking anxious.

Don't worry, no. History has changed and is now in July 1997. Although it was only in October 1997 that Cosworth's parent company, Vickers Group, announced that it would sell its Rolls-Royce and Rolls-Royce's sub-brand Bentley together, and on March 30, 1998, Vickers Group announced that it would sell Rolls-Royce and Bentley together to BMW for 1 billion marks (about 571 million US dollars), and Cosworth became a dispensable thing that Vickers gave to this buyer as an add-on.

After the continuous efforts of the Volkswagen Group, on July 3, 1998, the Vickers Group reversed its previous decision and announced the sale of Rolls-Royce and Bentley (about a little more than $700 million) to Volkswagen for 1.44 billion marks.

As for the hapless Cosworth, it is a pity that it was still given to the Volkswagen Group by Vickers as a dispensable addition.

But now that so many changes have taken place, especially the Alice Group, which did not exist in the first place, also exists in this world, Zhang Lan does not dare to ensure that Cosworth's journey is still the same as in history.

If the Volkswagen Group takes the lead, then I will almost want to cry to death: such a world-class engine manufacturer that combines high-performance civil engines and competition engines is usually treated as a baby bump by major car manufacturers, and it is difficult to take a peek at it, let alone acquire such a division. ,

Although I don't know what kind of nerves these manufacturers are making to kick Cosworth, a world-class engine manufacturing and R&D company, like a broken ball, that is not what they should manage, what they should do is to find a way to catch Cosworth in their own hands while these guys are nervous. If he hadn't taken over Cosworth when these guys were nervous, the aunt who had reborn him might have thundered herself.

As long as Cosworth is included in the Alice Group, the company's engine technology research and development strength will grow in the form of geometric multiples, which is almost the most outrageous thing that happened among the world's top engine manufacturers.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Xiao Chenxi shook the water droplets in her hand, tilted her head and looked at Zhang Lan strangely: I have never seen this guy so anxious, is this Cosworth company very famous? Is it important?

"Don't worry about it so much for now," Zhang Lan anxiously put aside the peaches that Xiao Chenxi was washing, and hurriedly took Xiao Chenxi's hand and ran out, "Help me check." ”

"Oh," although she didn't know why Zhang Lan was in such a hurry, Xiao Chenxi still sat down on the sofa obediently, and after thinking for a while, she turned her head and looked at Zhang Lan strangely, "No, there is no news that Vickers is ready to sell its car brand at present, where did you hear about this news?" Uh, no, wait," Xiao Chenxi shook as she spoke, as if she had discovered something, "Well, it's true, although the Vickers board of directors has not officially announced the news, their board of directors has preliminarily reached a decision to package and sell their Rolls-Royce brand and sub-brand Bentley together, and the Cosworth engine R&D and manufacturing center will be given to buyers as a gift." Now that the decision has been made into a memorandum, the main reason why the Vickers board of directors has not yet reached a consensus is what kind of price the two companies should sell. ”

Turning his head as he spoke, he stared at Zhang Lan with eyes as beautiful as a lake, and asked suspiciously, "This news is still top secret at present, and only the directors of Vickers Company know about this matter, and even the ordinary senior management of Vickers Company does not know, how did you know?" ”

"Grapevine," Zhang Lan lied without changing his face and eyelids, "I just occasionally remembered a small news I heard a while ago, which was the news that Vickers Group was preparing to sell its Rolls-Royce and Cosworth, and I didn't take it seriously at the time, just as a joke and passed, when I went to the company to check the progress of engine research and development, I felt that we needed to strengthen our company's technical research and development strength, so I remembered this gossip." I'll let you check it out by the way, if it's true, it's really good news for us, if not, it's someone who is boring and nonsense. ”

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