Development of the 200S began in 1952 under engineer Vittorio Bellentani, with the project codenamed Tipo 52. The impetus was the success of Ferrari's 500 Mondial, which demonstrated the competitiveness of a lightweight four-cylinder machine in sports car racing. Maserati's response was a 2.0-litre inline-four engine of 1,994.3 cc, built from light alloy, with dual overhead camshafts, twin camshafts, and double Weber 45 DCO3 carburetors (50 DCO3 units on the first few cars). Output was rated at 190 PS at 7,500 rpm.
Many chassis components were shared with the Maserati 150S to accelerate development. The rear suspension, however, retained the rigid axle design inherited from the earlier A6GCS, a compromise that would generate handling criticism. The first three chassis were fabricated internally at Maserati; subsequent cars used a tubular frame outsourced to Gilco and modified by Maserati. Bodywork for the first five cars was produced by Celestino Fiandri, while Medardo Fantuzzi built the remaining 23 aluminium bodies.
The 200S made its competitive debut at the 1955 Imola Grand Prix, driven by Franco Bordoni, but yielded disappointing results. An entry in the 1955 Targa Florio for Bordoni and Giovanni Bracco, alongside a 150S, also ended in retirement for both cars. Maserati did win that race, but with an older A6GCS driven by Francesco Giardini — the 200S not yet delivering on its promise.
Progress came in 1956. At the Supercortemaggiore Grand Prix, three 200S cars were entered, with two fitted with a De Dion tube rear arrangement to address suspension shortcomings. Results were mixed — one car was damaged in practice, a second retired after a single lap — but the third finished 27 seconds behind the winning Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. More encouragingly, the car demonstrated genuine outright speed at the Bara Grand Prix, which it won.
In 1957, Maserati introduced a revised variant called the 200SI (Sport Internazionale), modified to meet international sports car racing regulations. The SI specification added a wider windscreen, wipers, doors, and a minimal hood for weather protection — practical additions that did little for the car's purity as a racing machine but satisfied the letter of the rules. One of the SI cars, chassis 2407, was a converted 150S rather than a new build.
The 200S was succeeded by the 250S, which used an enlarged 2.5-litre version of the same engine. Most 250S cars were not new builds but conversions: four of the 200SI cars were upgraded to 250S specification, while only two were constructed from scratch. The 250S also proved uncompetitive against the dominant Ferrari machinery of the period, and the larger-displacement route was eventually abandoned in favour of the very different architecture of the 300S.
The 200S occupies a transitional place in Maserati's competition history, bridging the pre-war-lineage A6GCS and the more capable 300S and 450S that would follow. It demonstrated Maserati's ability to build a purpose-designed small-displacement sports racer but was outclassed by the Ferrari machines it was designed to beat. The shared-component approach with the 150S that helped speed its development also introduced compromises — particularly at the rear — that limited its competitive ceiling. Its significance lies as much in establishing Maserati's four-cylinder sports car DNA as in outright results.