The 1983 season brought Argentina back to the WRC schedule, replacing Brazil. By this point the championship format had reached a degree of stability, with only minor venue changes year to year.
The main protagonists entered the season with strong machinery and established squads. Lancia fielded German Walter Röhrl — champion in 1982 — alongside Finn Markku Alén in the new Lancia Rally 037. Röhrl's title defence was formidable on paper, but the team chose not to contest the final two events, a strategic decision that would prove costly in the manufacturers' standings.
Audi Sport continued with the Quattro programme, carrying forward Hannu Mikkola and Frenchwoman Michèle Mouton in the Quattro A1, later upgrading to the improved A2 specification. The team also included Stig Blomqvist, whose consistent pace would make him a factor late in the season. The Rothmans Opel Rally Team brought former champion Ari Vatanen and Henri Toivonen to campaign the Ascona 400.
Competition centred on the Audi and Lancia machinery, which between them won ten of the twelve events and occupied thirty of the season's thirty-six podium positions. Mikkola competed in every round, while Röhrl and Alén appeared in just six and seven events respectively, giving the Finn a clear path through the points table. Mikkola secured four wins and seven podiums across the campaign to take the title by a comfortable margin.
Mouton endured a difficult season, finishing fifth overall — well below expectations after her near-championship run in 1982. The Rothmans Opel team also struggled, with Vatanen's win in Kenya representing the team's sole podium of the year. Blomqvist emerged as a quiet force through the season's second half, ultimately winning at the final event to secure fourth place overall.
Lancia's decision to skip the final two rounds added significant tension to the manufacturers' fight. Audi, left with little competition at those events, won three of the last four rounds to close the gap dramatically. In the end Lancia captured the title by just two points — one of the closest manufacturers' contests in the championship's history. It marked Lancia's first manufacturers' title since the company had won three consecutive crowns in the mid-1970s.
The season demonstrated the continued dominance of four-wheel-drive technology. The Audi Quattro's all-wheel-drive system gave Mikkola and his teammates a significant advantage on the looser surfaces that characterised many rounds. Lancia's 037, by contrast, used a rear-wheel-drive layout — the last rear-wheel-drive car to win a manufacturers' championship — relying on exceptional chassis balance and driver skill to compensate. The tension between these two technical philosophies set the stage for the escalation into full Group B competition in subsequent seasons.
As with prior seasons, all twelve events counted toward drivers' championship points, while only ten of the twelve applied to the manufacturers' championship. Sweden and the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire were the two events excluded from manufacturers' calculations in 1983, a distinction that added further complexity to Lancia's title arithmetic.
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