Forgotten Luxury Cars Rarely Driven By Luxury Chauffeurs

0 Comments | 10 Apr 2024

Reputation is paradoxically extremely powerful and relatively fragile, which is why luxury chauffeurs will do their utmost to ensure that your journey around London is as comfortable, relaxing and enjoyable as possible.

It also means that a chauffeur is unlikely to compromise on their choice of vehicle, opting for a trusted badge such as Mercedes-Benz or Range Rover to take you to your destination.

That is not to say that other companies have not tried to create unique executive cars that entered that upper echelon, but either due to poor marketing, unfortunate timing or being lost in the shuffle, these luxury cars have rarely been used to transport VIPs.

Citroen C6

Formerly the executive vehicle of choice for the President of France, the Citroen C6 managed to stand out in a market dominated by Mercedes, Audi and BMW through its innovative suspension system that was described as like a “spaceship”.

Unfortunately, it was delayed significantly, arrived when most manufacturers had left the sector and had issues with reliability that were magnified due to the overall poor reputation of both Citroen and then-parent company Peugeot.

Renault Vel Satis

A car once offered to the Queen as an executive chauffeur-driven ride, the Renault Vel Satis was especially tall and featured particularly unusual styling that was debated for years after its launch in 2001.

It was a very safe vehicle, becoming just the second car to get a five-star crash test rating by Euro NCAP (sharing a platform with the first, the Renault Laguna II), and much like the similarly strange Renault Avantime it did develop a particularly enthusiastic customer base.

However, outside of this niche and attempts by the French Government to use it as an executive car, reception to the Vel Satis was relatively poor and did not improve, with the handling, ride quality and gearbox all criticised.

It ended its production run in 2009 and Renault allegedly lost nearly £18,000 on every single one they produced.