The abbreviation MV stands for Meccanica Verghera, the hamlet where the first machines were assembled. The company's debut model, the MV 98, was exhibited in Milan in October 1945 — a lightweight two-stroke 98 cc machine that went into mass production in 1946. Racing followed almost immediately: the first MV victory came at a road race in La Spezia on 6 October 1946, and by November of that year MV racers occupied the entire podium at Monza.
Count Domenico Agusta shared much in common with Enzo Ferrari: motorcycles and scooters were sold primarily to fund the racing programme. By the end of 1949, Agusta had recruited two key engineers from Gilera — designer Piero Remor and chief mechanic Arturo Magni — to build a 500 cc four-cylinder racing machine. The resulting MV 500 made its race debut at Spa-Francorchamps in July 1950.
MV Agusta's first world title came in 1952, when Britain's Cecil Sandford won the 125 cc class. In September of the same year, Leslie Graham gave MV its first 500 cc Grand Prix victory at Monza. From that point forward, MV accumulated an extraordinary run of success.
After the other leading Italian manufacturers — Gilera, Moto Guzzi, and Mondial — jointly withdrew from Grand Prix racing after the 1957 season, MV Agusta stayed on and dominated the sport. The company went on to win 17 consecutive 500 cc world championships. Count Agusta hired the defining riders of successive eras: Carlo Ubbiali, John Surtees, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini, and Phil Read. Agostini, riding for MV, became one of the most successful Grand Prix racers of all time. The fire-engine red four-cylinder machines became a symbol of the sport through the 1960s and into the 1970s.
The company won its last Grand Prix in 1976 and withdrew from racing at the end of that season. The guiding force behind the programme, Count Domenico Agusta, had died in 1971, and without him the company's racing will faded.
Alongside the racing programme, MV Agusta produced road-going machines throughout its history. The four-cylinder inline engine that powered the race bikes was eventually adapted for road use. The MV Agusta 600, debuted at the Milan Trade Fair in 1965, became the world's first production motorcycle with a transverse four-cylinder engine. It was followed by the 750 Sport and the 750 Sport America, the latter developed for the US market with a 790 cc engine, a 210 km/h top speed, and four exhaust pipes. Only 540 units of the 750 Sport America were built, making it one of the rarest performance motorcycles of its era.
The 1973 prototype 350 Ipotesi, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign, introduced the squared-off angular styling that would influence Italian motorcycle design for the following fifteen years. Its production version, the 350 S, entered the market in 1975 and remained in production until 1977.
The last motorcycle manufactured at the original Cascina Costa factory was the 125 Sport in 1977. After Count Agusta's heirs showed little interest in continuing motorcycle production, EFIM — the public financing body that had intervened to support the business — demanded MV Agusta exit the motorcycle market as a condition of financial assistance. Remaining stock was sold through 1980.
The MV Agusta brand was resurrected by the Castiglioni family, who acquired it in 1992 through their Cagiva motorcycle group. Designer Massimo Tamburini, who had previously worked at Bimota and completed the Ducati 916 for Cagiva, was given a blank sheet of paper to create a new MV Agusta. The result was the F4, powered by a 749.5 cc four-cylinder engine producing 126 hp. Its first prototype was completed in late 1997.
The F4's design was so acclaimed that it was exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York during the Art of the Motorcycle exhibition from June to September 1998 — one of only four MV machines in the exhibition, alongside 1950s and 1960s Grand Prix prototypes and the 750 S. In 1999, the Cagiva Group was restructured with MV Agusta as the parent company. Production of the F4 began with a limited run of 300 Serie Oro (Gold Series) units in carbon fibre and magnesium before broader production commenced.
MV Agusta's racing record across the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s stands as one of the most dominant in motorsport history. The distinctive scarlet four-cylinder machines defined an era of Grand Prix motorcycle racing and shaped the careers of some of the sport's greatest riders. The F4's revival in the late 1990s demonstrated that the aesthetic and engineering ambition of the original Agusta family remained a credible foundation decades later.