Meccanica Verghera Agusta was founded on the 12th of February 1945 by Count Vincenzo Agusta and his brother Domenico. The two aimed at satisfying the post-war market demands of cheap and efficient transportation means and the first model created was simply called 98. They then started building bigger and bigger motorcycles and after enjoying the great success of their 125-150cc café racers, 250cc and 350cc motorcycles were launched in the 1960s. Later on, MV Agusta developed a 600cc four-cylinder motorcycle followed by a 750cc one. These models too have been very successful.

The company started to decline after the death of Count Domenico Agusta (1971) and by 1980 production had entirely ceased.

In 1992, the Cagiva Group headed by Claudio Castiglioni announced the ownership of the MV Agusta trademark and Cagiva Group became MV Agusta Group in the late 1990s. This too was to be acquired by Harley-Davidson on the 8th of August 2008.