Five generations of vehicles have been produced, manufactured by Mowag or under licence by other companies such as the LAV, and variants are in service with military forces throughout the world.

There are several variants within these versions, giving different degrees of armour protection and several kinds of turret, for use in a variety of roles.

Belgium converted to an all-wheeled force, and replaced all their M113 armoured personnel carriers, AIFVs and Leopard 1 tanks with 268 Piranha IIIC in 7 variants.

A new Piranha V version, weighing between 25 and 30 tons, was announced as the provisional winner of the British Army's Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) program in May 2008,[4] but this selection was reversed seven months later and bidding started again.

[citation needed] General Dynamics European Land Systems launched their new Piranha Class 5 at Eurosatory 2010 on 15 June and it was reported that the British MoD were showing renewed interest, but struggling with budget constraints.

Due to rapid technological development and adjustments to requirements for military vehicles, no Piranha with gasoline engine was sold.

This prototype was demonstrated with different engines and features for potential customers such as the Canadian Army who locally produced them as the AVGP.

In the Swiss Army, the Piranha 6×6 is used as an ambulance, C3 command vehicle and, together with the BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile, as a "tank destroyer".

[7][dead link‍] Qatar Armed Forces – 40 Piranha II 8×8 built under licence by former British firm Alvis PLC.

Among the 32 not in service, 22 were sold to the Chilean Navy, 1 lost after damage in Afghanistan, 1 used in Canada as test vehicle, and 8 available for sale.