The European Touring Car Challenge, as it was first known, was created in 1963 by Willy Stenger at the request of the FIA. Cars competed under FIA Group 2 Improved Touring Car regulations, which allowed a wide variety of production-derived machines to race together — from the diminutive Fiat 600 and Mini to larger models such as the Jaguar Mark 2 and Mercedes-Benz 300SE. In its inaugural year, rounds were held at circuits and hillclimb venues including the Nürburgring, Brands Hatch, Zandvoort, and even Népliget Park in Budapest. German driver Peter Nöcker won the first title in a Jaguar.
In 1968, Group 5 Special Touring Cars were briefly permitted to compete, but this was discontinued after two seasons. In 1970 the series was renamed from Challenge to Championship. The 1973 oil crisis severely reduced entries for the following two seasons; factory programmes did not return in full until 1977, when BMW and Capri RS machinery resumed the front-running positions.
In 1982, the FIA replaced Groups 1 and 2 with Group N and Group A. The ETCC followed the Group A route entirely, drawing factory support from BMW, Alfa Romeo, and Jaguar, with the latter's XJS and Rover Vitesse prepared by Tom Walkinshaw Racing proving highly competitive against the BMW 635 CSi and the turbocharged Volvo 240T. From 1986, Australian manufacturer Holden entered the fray with V8-powered Commodores.
By the mid-1980s, homologation evolution models had created a performance arms race. The BMW M3 Evo and Ford Sierra RS500 dominated grids and results while costs spiralled. The championship was cancelled after 1988, partly due to the financial fallout of the one-off 1987 World Touring Car Championship, which had been organised as a rival and left the calendar and sponsors fragmented.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, the landscape fragmented. The Spa 24 Hours and 24 Hours Nürburgring continued as isolated international events. The FIA organised a one-round Super Touring World Cup between 1993 and 1995 to leverage the popularity of Super Touring in national championships. In 1996 the FIA promoted the DTM — which had expanded beyond German borders — into the International Touring Car Championship (ITC), but escalating costs ended that project after just two seasons.
In 2000 the Italian Superturismo Championship was promoted to international status and relaunched as the Euro STC. The first season featured six rounds in Italy alongside events in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia. Four drivers — Giovanardi, Kox, Morbidelli, and Colciago — each won five races apiece, but Fabrizio Giovanardi ultimately took the title.
The series became the FIA European Super Touring Championship in 2001, adding a Super Production class alongside the main Super Touring category. Gabriele Tarquini won nine of twenty races but lost the title to Giovanardi due to retirements. The intense competition attracted strong television coverage through Eurosport.
In 2002, the FIA switched from Super Touring to the new Super 2000 technical formula, and the series was renamed the FIA ETCC. Super 2000 regulations attracted Alfa Romeo 156 GTA, BMW 320i, Volvo S60, and SEAT Toledo Cupra entries. Alfa Romeo dominated the first two seasons through Giovanardi and Tarquini, before Andy Priaulx clinched the 2004 title for BMW. The series' close racing and live Eurosport broadcasts generated significant public interest.
The ETCC's success led the FIA to elevate it to World Touring Car Championship status from 2005 onwards. The European Touring Car title continued in name through the European Touring Car Cup — a one-round event for representatives of national Super 2000 championships — which ran from 2005 until 2009, then returned as a multi-round series from 2010 before becoming defunct in 2017.
The ETCC's first-era champions from 1963 to 1988 represent a cross-section of European touring car development, from Group 2 saloons to the high-powered Group A evolution cars of the late 1980s. The revived series produced three Italian-campaign champions — Giovanardi twice and Tarquini once in the Super Touring phase — before Priaulx's BMW victory closed the ETCC chapter ahead of the WTCC era.