The original DTM began in 1984 under the name Deutschen Produktionswagen Meisterschaft (German Production Car Championship), contested by privateer teams using cars built to FIA Group A regulations. The series replaced the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, which had shifted from production-based machinery to Group 5 cars in 1977 and the prohibitively expensive Group C sportscars by 1982, driving away competitors and audiences alike. The return to production-based rules restored accessibility and attracted growing interest.
Through the late 1980s the championship's popularity surged as manufacturer works teams entered the fray. BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, and Alfa Romeo all fielded factory-backed efforts, transforming the series into a prestige battleground for the German automotive industry. Turbochargers were banned at the start of the 1990 season in a bid to control costs, which had begun escalating alongside the championship's ambitions.
In 1993 the Group A technical regulations were abandoned in favour of a more liberalised formula called FIA Class 1 Touring Cars. The new rules permitted a 2.5-litre engine category and allowed technologies that had been banned from Formula 1, including ABS braking, four-wheel drive, electronic driver aids, and carbon fibre chassis construction. The resulting cars were spectacular but enormously expensive to develop and operate. Opel, Mercedes-Benz, and Alfa Romeo were the main manufacturers competing at this stage, after Audi and BMW had withdrawn from the series during earlier seasons.
For the 1995 season the DTM expanded internationally, with teams simultaneously contesting the inaugural FIA International Touring Car Series alongside the traditional German rounds. The DTM itself ran fourteen races within Germany while the new ITC contested ten rounds held entirely outside the country, at venues including Mugello, Helsinki, Donington Park, Estoril, and Magny-Cours.
Plans were then made to merge the two into a single unified International Touring Car Championship for 1996, with the ITR governing body seeking FIA backing for the new series. In exchange for that support, the FIA assumed control over significant aspects of how the ITC operated. The financial structure was overhauled in a manner that directed a large proportion of championship revenue to the FIA rather than to the teams, who found themselves receiving diminishing returns on their massive investments.
The consequences were severe. Television rights prices were raised dramatically, and coverage of the series vanished from almost all European countries, surviving only in Italy, Germany, and Finland. Ticket prices for race attendees nearly doubled. Access to the paddock, which had previously been a significant draw for fans wishing to meet drivers, was sharply curtailed. Several of the international circuits chosen for rounds proved unsuccessful: the races at Magny-Cours in France and Interlagos in Brazil were poorly attended.
Faced with dwindling returns and unsustainable costs, Opel and Alfa Romeo withdrew from the ITC after the 1996 season. With only Mercedes-Benz remaining, the championship was cancelled. The original DTM was over.
The DTM brand returned in 2000 under different regulations and a revised commercial structure, this time under the name Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, again organised by the ITR. The revived series deliberately prioritised cost control and a more stable technical framework to avoid repeating the mistakes that had destroyed the original championship. The initials DTM, though identical, now officially stood for a different name, marking a clear break with the spectacular but ultimately unsustainable original.
The original DTM is remembered as one of the defining touring car series of its era. At its peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s it produced some of the most technically advanced and visually striking touring cars ever built, featuring works-supported machinery from several of Europe's most prominent manufacturers competing at circuits across Germany and, briefly, the world.