Count Giovanni Agusta left Sicily for northern Italy, where he built his first aircraft, the AG.1, four years after the Wright brothers had made history in the US.

Using an engine that had been prepared by August 1943—a 98 cc single-cylinder two-stroke with a two-stage gear box—and spare parts obtained from the black market to bypass shortages, a prototype motorcycle was constructed.

Two versions were sold to consimers: Economica, based on the prototype presented a year earlier, and Turismo, distinguished by the presence of a three-speed gearbox and a rear suspension.

[5] After a short twenty-minute run on the factory test bench, ex-Gilera rider Arcisco Artesiani managed a creditable fifth on the untested and ungainly MV 500.

The 1952 season saw the introduction of telescopic forks, full width alloy brake hubs and a sleek fuel tank on the 125 cc race bike.

And in September that year Leslie Graham made Count Agusta the happiest man alive by winning MV's first 500 cc Grand Prix, on the hallowed asphalt of Monza, beating Gilera's Umberto Masetti by 58 seconds.

The "Squalo" (English: shark), as it was generally known, had a lighter frame based on that used on the works racers, larger brakes, a magneto, Earles forks and a five-speed gearbox.

In addition, the upper camshaft complicated the procedure for cleaning carbon deposits, which was required several times a season due to the quality of oil and fuel.

[11] The chassis was similar to the 175-cc models (although the first units used a fully tubular frame, it was soon replaced by the same mixed design as the 175 CST), but a radical improvement appeared on the Rapido Sport was a hydraulically damped telescopic fork.

Technically, the motorcycle became the development of a 125-cc model: a single-cylinder four-stroke overhead valve (OHV) engine, a four-speed gearbox, a duplex frame closed through the crankcase of the power unit.

The main new MV Agusta 125 TRE advertising message was focused on its reliability and assured 100,000 km mileage without any problems, for which the model was nicknamed "Centomila" (English: one hundred thousand).

[21] After the 1957 season, the Italian motorcycle manufacturers Gilera, Moto Guzzi and Mondial jointly agreed to withdraw from Grand Prix competition due to escalating costs and diminishing sales.

Count Agusta's competitive nature drove him to hire some of the best riders of the time, including Carlo Ubbiali, John Surtees, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini, Phil Read, and the best engineers, in particular Arturo Magni.

[2] The MV Agusta 250 B (Bicilindrica) had a 247 cc (53 × 56 mm) four-stroke parallel twin engine, a battery ignition system, two carburetors and a five-speed gearbox.

But the price was too high, and the characteristics were not the most impressive, which is why by the end of 1970 the total number of released three versions barely reached 1,452 units, and the model gave way to another generation, a much more successful MV Agusta 350 B with engine bored out to 349 cc.

In the mid-1960s, when the demand for large engine capacity motorcycles grew, there was born an idea to apply it on a road bike (the first prototype MV Agusta 500 Grand Turismo R19 was built in 1951).

Therefore, the MV Agusta 600 debuted at the Milan Trade Fair in 1965 was deliberately distinguished by the massive parts of the 592-cc engine, final shaft drive and weighed 221 kg.

In terms of performance, the engine's displacement was increased to 790 cc and is now powered by four 26 mm Dell'Orto concentric-shaft carburettors (smaller than those of the 750 S, they have the added advantage of remaining stable on bumpy roads).

[38] In 1975, the company presented the Mini Moto 4 V that looked like MV racing bikes (including even four exhausts and "Grand Prix" front fairing) but it had a 50-cc engine with 1.5 hp only.

Then Castiglioni bought a Suzuki RG500, painted it in traditional MV Agusta colours – red and silver – and provided it to the racers Gianfranco Bonera and Marco Lucchinelli in the 1978 racing season.

At the time, the Castiglionis owned Cagiva, Ducati, Moto Morini and Husqvarna, and operated out of the old Harley-Davidson Aermacchi premises at Schiranna on the shores of Lake Varese.

[49] The subsequent process of industrialisation was divided into two distinct stages: the first with production of a limited run of 300 F4 Serie Oro (English: Gold Series) bikes, with carbon fibre bodywork, magnesium parts and an engine with sand cast crankcases anticipating the construction of the S model, destined for a broader range of users thanks to its price, cut by half over that of the previous version.

[2] By December 2004 due to cashflow problems, Claudio Castiglioni was forced to sell a bigger part of his stake in MV Agusta (65% of the share capital) to Malaysian car maker Proton for 70 million euros.

Harley-Davidson invested 40 million euros into debts pay-off, production upgrade and the new model launches – a completely new three-cylinder F3 designed by the Ezio Mascheroni (who developed also Cagiva GP500 in the past).

[58][59] At EICMA 2010, MV Agusta unveiled the next generation of the extreme F4 sports bike with the new Corsa Corta engine with a capacity of 998 cc and 201 hp.

[67][68] The motivation of Mercedes-AMG acquisition of 25% of MV (rumored for 30 millions euros of injections into the company plus support in sales & marketing operations) remains unclear.

However, taking into account the clause in the loan agreement with BPM that allows the bank to demand early repayment of debt, if Mercedes-AMG participation in the authorized capital of MV Agusta falls below 20%, the situation became difficult.

In March 2016, municipal court of Varese approved the protective act "Concordato di continuità" (English: sequence agreement), putting a moratorium on creditors' requirements for the period of a new investor search.

A fusion of vintage and contemporary ensures that the future incorporates the memories of good times gone by"[92] In November 2022, Pierer Mobility (KTM) acquired a 25.1% minority stake in MV Agusta by way of a capital increase.

MV Agusta retired from Grand Prix racing at the end of the 1976 season, having won 270 Grand Prix motorcycle races, 38 World Riders' Championships and 37 World Constructors' Championships with legendary riders such as Giacomo Agostini, Mike Hailwood, Phil Read, Carlo Ubbiali, Gary Hocking and John Surtees.