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Concept
Limousine
Summary
A limousine (ˈlɪməziːn or lɪmə'ziːn), or limo (ˈlɪmoʊ) for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxury sedan with a very long wheelbase and driven by a professional driver is called a stretch limousine.
In some countries, such as the United States, Germany, Canada, and Australia, a limousine service may be any pre-booked hire car with driver, usually but not always a luxury car. In particular, airport shuttle services are often called "limousine services", though they often use minivans, light commercial vehicles or MPVs.
TOC
The word limousine is derived from the name of the French region Limousin. However, how the name of the region transferred to the car is uncertain.
One possibility involves a particular type of carriage hood or roof that physically resembled the raised hood of the cloak worn by the shepherds there.
An alternate etymology speculates that some early chauffeurs wore a Limousin-style cloak in the open driver's compartment, for protection from the weather. The name was then extended to this particular type of car with a permanent top projecting over the chauffeur. This former type of automobile had an enclosed passenger compartment seating three to five persons, with only a roof projecting forward over the open driver's area in the front.
Rich owners of expensive carriages and their passengers were accustomed to their own private compartments leaving their coachman or driver outside in all weathers. When automobiles arrived the same people required a similar arrangement for their chauffeurs. As such, the 1916 definition of limousine by the US Society of Automobile Engineers is "a closed car seating three to five inside, with driver's seat outside".
In Great Britain, the limousine de-ville was a version of the limousine town car where the driver's compartment was outside and had no weather protection.
Official source
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