AUDI is to plough almost £47 million into Cosworth Technology, the Midlands-based automotive engineering consultancy, leading to the creation of 700 new jobs. The money will go towards providing new business during the next three years.

The effect will be to almost double the workforce to 1,500 in the next three years with the extra jobs mainly at Cosworth's three plants in the UK, but its US subsidiary in Michigan will also benefit. The £47 million in contracts with Cosworth, which is owned by Volkswagen's Audi subsidiary, will cover engine machining and assembly, powertrain development and aluminium cylinder head castings.

Audi and Cosworth both said there was no immediate plans to put Cosworth engines in Audi cars. David Bate, Cosworth joint chief executive, said it would maintain a 50/50 balance between group and non-group activities. The Cosworth name has been most recently linked to Ford, which has revealed that a Cosworth Focus could go into production. The concept version is powered by a Cosworth-developed 2.0-litre turbocharged and intercooled Zetec E engine.