Maserati officially launched early in 1926 when the Bologna, Italy, brothers who had formerly worked for Diatto creating race cars determined that after Diatto stopped making race cars, they would make their own.

They proceeded to create a race car that won the 1926 Targa Florio race. This race was held in the mountains of Palermo, Sicily and was both- dangerous, as well as treacherous as it included hairpin turns and vast temperature differences due to the elevation variations throughout the race. Because this was a tricky circuit to tackle, winning the race came with a great deal of prestige for the brothers. Enough that it sent them down the path of manufacturing race cars. Brother Mario created the logo that is known across the world and together they (brothers) began creating four, six, eight, and sixteen cylinder race cars.

Sadly, the brother Alfieri was the driver that won that first race that Maserati had entered, and in 1932 he passed away. With his passing, the other brothers continued for five years, eventually selling their parts of the company to Adolfo Orsi in 1937. However, these brothers stayed an active part of the car designing and took on engineering roles with the new company when it relocated to Modena.

After the war, Maserati resumed creating race cars. In 1950, Maserati won the World Championship. Later on in 1993, FIAT became the owner of the Maserati name and in 1999, Ferrari, which was also owned by Fiat, lent a V8 engine as well as an automated-manual transmission to the 2002 models known as the Spyder and Coupe with a decent amount of success. It should come as no surprise that Maserati was created in Italy, the home of Ferrari and Lamborghini.