The original company was founded as a British racing engine maker in 1958 by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth (1933-2005 [1]) (COStin and duckWORTH). Despite being an independent company Cosworth was supported by Ford for many years and most of the Cosworth engines were branded Ford.

The company has been through a number of owners. After Keith Duckworth decided he didn't want to be involved with the day-to-day business of running a growing company he sold out to United Engineering Industries (UEI) in 1980; UEI was a group of small to medium-sized technology companies which was taken over by Carlton Communications in 1988, but Cosworth didn't fit the portfolio of media industry companies Carlton wanted to own; a new buyer for the company was sought and the traditional engineering company Vickers plc bought Cosworth in 1990. In 1998 Vickers sold the company to Volkswagen Group, who then signed a deal with Ford, which bought the racing division which had long made racing engines for Ford. Cosworth Technology (also known as CT) offers powertrain development consultancy, and its patented aluminium casting process is used by several car makers including Audi and Aston Martin. Volkswagen sold CT to the Mahle Group in December 2004.

Cosworth was split in 1998 into two companies, Cosworth Racing and Cosworth Technology. With the acquisition of Cosworth Technology into the Mahle Group, Cosworth Technology became Mahle Powertrain.

In September 2004, Ford announced that it was selling Cosworth Racing, along with its Jaguar Formula One team. On November 15, 2004, the sale of Cosworth was completed, to Champ Car World Series owners Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven, who renamed Cosworth Racing to Cosworth.