The company was formed in 1950 by Carlo Abarth following his involvement with Cisitalia in the late 1940's. Initially the company concentrated on making tuning equipment for Fiat and other makes and in particular exhaust systems where Carlo Abarth had built up a reputation during the 1930’s. Some Fiat based 1000 cc coupes were built but serious car production commenced in 1955 with the Tipo 207/A Spyder using the pre-war designed Fiat Millecento mechanical components. The 1100 cc front engine's power output was raised from the 32 bhp of the original to 66 bhp. The coachwork was by Boano.

The first rear engined sports cars based on the new Fiat 600 appeared in 1955 with open 2 seater bodies and the 633 cc engines with the output increased to 39 bhp from the production figure of 21.5 bhp.
Fiat components were the main source of supply until 1962 although some special coupe bodies were built for Porsche in 1960 and a 1 litre coupe was built based on the Alfa Romeo Guilietta in 1958.
 
From 1960 there were Abarths based on the floor pan and mechanical components of the Fiat 500 and 600 Berline. The engines were tuned and fitted with stronger crankshafts and up-rated clutches and the suspension was lowered and fitted with disc brakes from 1961. Alongside these were the wholly Abarth designed coupes using either a 747 cc pushrod engine or twin overhead camshaft Bialbero engine of 850 cc and coachwork by Allemano and Zagato.

Some larger coupes and cabriolets were built based on the Fiat 2.2 litre six with four wheel disc brakes, but these front engined cars were only made in 1960.
 
1961 saw the introduction of a new range of attractively styled coupes based on the new Simca 1000.  In 1964 a very fast Berlina was built on the Fiat 850 floor pan using the 1.6 litre Abarth twin overhead camshaft engine and capable of 137 mph.

By 1966 there were numerous options available on the 500 and 600 Fiat based derivatives with engine specifications ranging from 27 bhp to 38 bhp giving top speeds from 75 to 87 mph. The 1000 Corsa was fitted with a front mounted radiator, 5 speed gearbox and disc brakes all round.

Other saloons were based on the Fiat 850 and Simca. The Abarth Simca 2000 two seater coupe was the fastest production model with 202 bhp from it's 2 litre twin overhead camshaft engine. This gave a top speed of 168 mph, but it cost more than five million lire in Italy. The relationship with Simca ended when the latter was taken over by Chrysler in 1965. The Abarth relationship with Fiat continued until the company was absorbed by Fiat in 1971 by which time it was financially very weak. Up to this time there were many re-bodied Fiat options available and the last Abarth was the Scorpione of 1970 with an enlarged Fiat 124 engine in the middle of the wedge shaped coupe. Under Fiat ownership the company developed successful rally cars in the 1970's and similarly for Lancia in the 1980's. The name lived on as a badged Fiat Strada 130 TC in 1984.
 
The marque came to prominence in 1956 with a series of attempts on the long distance International Class Records for 500, 750 and 1100 cc engines. The rear-engined streamlined 750 cc car averaged 111.92 mph for 72 hours in July 1957. They were also very successful at the Nurburgring, winning the 1000 kilometre sports car race for 5 consecutive years (1960 to 64) and finishing second in 1965. They were unsuccessful with their Le Mans entry for 1961 and thereafter abandoned the swing axle rear suspension and introduced a front mounted radiator on the more powerful models. 

A Formula 2 racer was built in 1964 using a 995 cc twin overhead camshaft engine and other projects included a 3 litre Formula 1 engine and a 6 litre V12 sports car engine.  These were far too ambitious for a small company and had serious financial consequences.