We like the new C Class its a rather stylish job well done and it seems the judging panel for the World Car Awards are in agreement with us here at DCB Towers. You could say we are the experts…Ahem! However we ask you do these industry awards make any difference? Lets take a look at a polar opposite industry award, the Grammy’s. Its said these music awards are designed to drive publicity not only for the winners but also for sales. The same principle applies to the Oscars, that multi Oscar winning movie looks great in the news, all involved are flattered and honored, speeches begin, handshakes and striking a pose for the cameras. Winning an Oscar or a Grammy is guaranteed to increase box office receipts by at least another £5-10 million. The same principle of publicity applies to the world car awards. It gets people more interested in the brand. Fair enough. The World Car Awards are made up of judges from popular motoring publications from… you guessed it… around the world. In reality they are often self important individuals who are consumed by self indulgence. They are supposed to be experts in their field but sometimes you get the impression they are doing the car buying public a favor. However these awards are no measure of sales success, take the Chevy Volt, a previous winner. The buying public didn’t exactly put it on the top of their shopping list. However the internet age has seen a rise in car forums where real people discuss the pros, cons, expense and frustrations of ownership. Here at least we get an idea of ownership after a year or so, these car forums are the new frontier for car ownership. However even these car forums are being infiltrated by the manufactures to see who says what and to counter any potential fall out if the shine is rubbed off their gleaming world car trophy or any other car for that matter. So do the World Car of The Year Awards make any difference? No not really, the manufacture gets a nice shinny trophy and an editorial. There always has to be a winner, the headlines have to be made year after year. Its a self sustaining award fed on egocentricity. Do these judges really believe that the buying public want to be told what to buy? It is the buying public who really decide not an isolated judging panel whose independence and impartiality has to be questioned like a Fifa presidential vote.