The 2011 Chauffeur Car of the Year Awards have been launched and is on the hunt for the most outstanding vehicles for the industry.

Last year, the CCOTY Awards recognised four vehicles for their suitability for chauffeur work and the packages which are offered by the manufacturers. The Bentley Flying Spur Speed, BMW 730Ld, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Hyundai i800 all took the awards for their own category as the most outstanding.

There are a number of new entries which have been shortlisted for judging in 2011. The Infiniti M30d, which was launched to the industry in 2010 and has already been seen within large chauffeur companies throughout the country, and the all-new Audi A8 will also be judged for the first time.

Again, the awards will be split into four categories – £50,000 and under, £50,000 to £100,000 and £100,000 and Above. There is a separate category for MPV’s, which was won in 2010 by the Hyundai i800.

Paul Gibson, editor of thechauffeur.com, who launched the awards in 2008, commented; “We are excited to host these awards for 2011, and I’m expecting them to be very challenging once again as we have some exciting new cars to judge which will certainly be an eye-opener as manufacturers become more competitive to get chauffeurs business.”

The chauffeur industry will be invited to give their opinion on the shortlisted vehicles via thechauffeur.com. A voting system will soon be introduced which allows readers to report their own findings on the cars they operate. The system will give the judges a good idea of how the vehicles perform over time rather than just how they drive.

The voting system can be found on www.thechauffeur.com from June 2011.

See the results from The Chauffeur Car of the Year 2010 >>