As you have hopefully read on the site, we have just launched The Chauffeur Car of the Year Awards 2010, so I would imagine that most of the blog updates in the near future will be regarding the cars we are testing to find the winner!

I am blessed to be working with four professional chauffeurs who have been in the industry for many many years – these were obviously the first choice when deciding who should judge for the awards. These chauffeurs have pretty much operated all of the marques on our roads today, so what they don’t know about luxury transportation, just isn’t worth knowing!

This year there will be a large emphasis on Chauffeur Programmes within the awards judging. When I started out in 2003, no manufacturers offered anything ‘special’ for the industry – but now we are fortunate enough to have an array of options from companies such as Jaguar, Audi, Lexus and BMW.

When we receive each car for judging, the manufacturers are asked to present their chauffeur programmes to us – if they have one at all. So, when the judges fill-out the extensive form, there is a section dedicated to the schemes on offer.

When we announce the winner in September time, you will know that the winner of each category isn’t just a good car to drive, but should be an excellent option for any chauffeur business.

This week we have been looking at the 2010 Volkswagen Caravelle which has surprised most of the judges and this morning saw the delivery of the facelift Lexus LS600hL.

I’m tempted to keep you up-to-date with how the cars score as we go along – hmmm, I shall sleep on that one!

Paul Gibson
editor@thechauffeur.com