Citroën AMI - urban mobility at a smartphone price
Sustainable mobility for cities could be easy to come by. Citroën shows how it's done and is successful. France, Belgium, Italy, Great Britain and other countries receive the AMI. Unfortunately not (yet) in Germany. Probably because demand is so great beyond the borders that not enough AMI can roll off the assembly lines in Morocco. Mobility that is smart and sustainable is available at reasonable prices. In France, an AMI for long-term rental does not cost more than the flat rate for a mid-range smartphone. It's fun, and not only that.
A real city car
The AMI is 100% a city car. Just like the (original) Smart used to be before it fell into Chinese hands and started to grow in size. It is ultra-compact, with a length of just 2,41 meters it fits in any parking space. The turning circle is a sensational 7,20 meters and the all-electric range is specified as 75 kilometers.
As I said, the AMI is a car for the city. Not one to go on vacation with. A top speed of 45 km/h is quite sufficient, as our cities will be transformed into 30 km/h zones in the future. The 5,5 kWh battery can be charged at a normal socket and takes 3 hours. A wall box or a fast charger would be possible, but bring no advantage, since a faster charging option is not provided.
The charging behavior probably corresponds to urban reality. One battery charge of the AMI is enough for a day in the city.
Phenomenon Citroën AMI
AMI is becoming a social phenomenon in France. Again Citroën revolutionizes the market. 23.500 customers are already using the intelligent city runabout. According to the manufacturer, their age is between 14 and 77 years. The AMI is a car for all social classes and all ages. A typical Citroën, in the best tradition.
The AMI, whose concept was presented for the first time in 2019, is also in detail what one might understand by a real Citroën. Something unusual is expected - and the manufacturer delivers. examples? The doors on the driver's and passenger's side close and open in opposite directions. Counter-rotating on the driver's side, for greater ease of entry, and conventional on the passenger's side.
The interior, offering space for two passengers, amazes with asymmetrically arranged seats. The passenger seat, which is set back slightly, is intended to provide enormous legroom, which is not to be expected from the ultra-compact electric car. In addition, the standard panoramic roof ensures an airy, generous feeling of space.
So the Citroën is not a renunciation car. It's a modern 2CV, and it's not just the wing mirrors and fold-up windows that remind you of its heritage. The duck of the 21st century provides everything urban nomads need. Purchases and luggage can be stowed in nets or find space behind the driver's seat. The AMI even has an electric heater, which is not a matter of course in this class.
Smartphone integration with “My AMI Play”
Citroën offers an inexhaustible range of options for customizing the AMI with stickers and color accents according to your personal attitude to life. Special models, like the current ones AMI tonic, always bring a breath of fresh air and ensure that the product remains exciting.
Of course, the AMI, which is registered as a light four-wheeled motor vehicle and can therefore (in Germany) be driven from the age of 15, is also a networked vehicle. The smartphone can be integrated via "My AMI Play", then you can stream, navigate and of course make calls on board.
But behind the great success is not only an intelligent, urban concept. The prize for sustainable mobility in cities is also convincing. The current Tonic special model in France costs €8.990,00. Or, as a long-term rental, €34,99 per month. The basic AMI model is available for €19,99 a month. This corresponds to the monthly flat rate for a mid-range smartphone and makes electric mobility affordable for many people.
When it comes to sales, Citroën prefers to use the internet. Most AMIs are configured and sold online, or rented.
In Germany, the AMI is (currently) only offered as an Opel. The market launch of Rocks-e, as the opelised Citroën is called, was supposed to take place in 2021, but was pushed further and further back. The first AMI from Opel is scheduled to appear on the German market in December, and anyone who wants can have their vehicle delivered right to their front door.
However, the Citroën is the original and the Opel is only the derivative. And who would be satisfied with the copy when the originals are roaming through Paris in France?
Images and media file Citroën Communication
Perfect ! Your son is awesome!
Best decision !
LG to him.
I'm looking forward to a new Saab driver!
You don't know my son!
Not his penchant for lowering, turbo, tuning, spoilers, paint, leather and so on, not the advertisements he shows me ...
I still have a lot of work ahead of me. It is important to convince him of an untinkered and well-maintained 900 II to 9-3 II with 2,0i or 1,8i as an ideal entry point that is inexpensive to maintain.
There are still worlds between his and my ideas for his first car...
After all, suicide doors have been abolished (banned?) for very good reason. And that's supposed to be progress, especially on the driver's side? Or is it still safe at 45 km/h to just lean out and close the door again?
The two opposing doors make the Ami even cheaper. Because they are simply structurally identical. You could also install the left door on the right and vice versa.
Please bring to Germany! It is incomprehensible why the Citroën AMI should only be marketed as an Opel. Is it necessary for the Opel fleet to comply with CO₂ limits? Or is Opel working on a more casual image?
I want a real AMI, 😉 unfortunately I can't find any references to an introduction to Germany on the Citroën website. Is anything known?
Where exactly are the differences between the vehicles? – In this case it’s really just the logo…
It's probably just the visual details that make the difference. But you like one brand more and the other less...
Or would you have bought a Saab with Opel livery?
The reduction has charm and would be the more sensible way to spread e-automobility. Especially in cities plagued by noise and emissions. But the concept also has supporters in rural areas. With a moped driving license, students and apprentices can compensate for the thinned-out public transport (you are already doing some with the 45 vehicles). The problem is the low speed on the highway.
The reduction is also visible in other concepts, whether it's the X-Bus or the Aptera. Thinking about e-mobility with conventional concepts creates exactly the problems we are currently having: heavy cars with huge batteries that are endlessly expensive and have a questionable environmental balance. If you use the reduced approach for inner cities and short-distance traffic and still rely on diesel and petrol until the new battery and solar concepts are ready for series production there, I think that would be a reasonable traffic mix. But in Germany and the EU there is only hop or top...
Not a car for me, but there is probably more future in this concept than one would like to admit.
Smaller is smarter is better. The smart AMI is exactly what cities like Berlin, Paris or Munich need.
Small vehicles, manoeuvrable, quiet and, please, free of emissions. Better quality of life for people in inner cities, that's how it works. Citroën is on the right track!
A milestone?
For me, the AMI embodies something like the reasonable lower limit of electric mobility. With little use of resources, he, she or it offers the option of getting from A to B in any weather without sweating and without a helmet and/or rainwear. Even for two. That's something...
And probably AMIs aren't always lying sideways and overturned on sidewalks? The ubiquitous scooters and e-bikes are becoming more and more of an object of hate for me personally...
Why do we need these vast amounts of e-waste on sidewalks between walking & cycling and AMI or public transport?
I like Der, die, das AMI simply because he, she or it raises this legitimate question again.
PS
But I would find a top speed of 62 km/h cool and consistent...
We all know these stickers on the rear of special vehicles - such as crane trucks. Vehicles are only permitted on the (urban) motorway from 60 km/h. A city runabout should also be able and allowed to drive there...
It's not much gained if you torment yourself through empty 30 zones from one red traffic light to the next after the opera at night and at an average speed of 15 km/h it takes an hour and twenty for the 20 km to your own house on the outskirts ...
I used to run at this exact pace. Always an average of 4 minutes/km, 20 km in one twenty, 10 km in forty minutes. Never after the opera, but actually after the cinema or disco. Even with a light backpack. Shirt and trousers in, off home, into the shower and into bed...
I can't do that anymore. But when I use a car, I don't want to be as fast in a "wheelchair" as I was on foot 15 years ago...
Great concept. But please make it available at 62 km/h. By the way, the first 2CV (1949) managed 65 km/h ...
The Citroen Ami is absolute pollution! The world really doesn't need something like that!
No range, no load volume, no reasonable speed, no crash safety!
Useless for shopping! Basically useless for everything.
Most suitable for the golf course as a covered walker. In the city you can take the bus or the tram. Or walk.
As a city car for shopping you need at least the size of a VW Polo! Everything else is pollution!
I also think that every motorized vehicle (regardless of whether it is electric) that does not have an increased utility value compared to public transport or a bicycle constitutes environmental pollution.
But do you really need at least one VW Polo as a second car and for urban shopping?
And if so, which Polo, which generation and engine? Is 685 kg car and 29 kW power enough? Or does it have to be almost 1,4 tons and 200 hp each?
I do think that you could swing a shopping bag on the passenger seat and a soda box in the footwell in the Polo I through a 30 zone in front of your own door. I even dare to do that with an AMI ...
I mean, of course, a Polo of the current generation with at least 300 liters of luggage space and a normal engine. Luggage only belongs in the trunk....never on the rear seats or passenger footwell!
Cars are supposed to become safer and safer and then you screw up the safety of a vehicle with incorrectly adjusted headrests or luggage on the back seat!
I had a serious car accident with my Saab 9-3 with a 40 ton truck at 80 km/h!
I had everything in the trunk and didn't have any coffee Togo that would have scalded me otherwise.
By the way, you don't eat or drink in the car either. Then the interior stays nice and clean even after decades.
That's the man named Ove speaking in you. It's all right, but not very French...
I've been thinking for a long time that we have to make compromises when it comes to crash safety if we want to save resources and protect the environment.
Not every small or micro car needs 5 stars to be stuck in a traffic jam in the city center or to trundle through the outskirts at 30 km/h ...
The gap between a bike and the current Polo is huge. It amounts to at least 1,1 and up to 1,35 tons of material use - accordingly also in terms of resources and energy in production alone. Didn't even get started with the company.
I see a lot of room between the Velo & Polo VI for smaller and lighter cars. We've had it before. For example a Polo I with 0.685 tons instead of 1,35. That says it all already.
But you maintain a very conservative vehicle image. Not every car of the future has to drive around with a trunk that is rarely used, a small vehicle like the AMI can be sufficient.
Think about resource conservation. Every kilogram of vehicle weight less is a gain. The future is more diverse than before.
Then I'm curious to see when you and Mr. Volvaab will buy such a bowl.
Please then also sell the Saab! I wish you lots of fun at 45 km/h.
I prefer to drive my Saab. It is sustainable, well-kept, comfortable and can also transport something out of the city. When I'm in Hamburg or Berlin, I take the bus and train. The Saab is then parked in the hotel car park.
You know, maybe I actually do that...
Of course, that's why I'm not selling Saab or Volvo!
But my oldest son will soon be 16 and has been bugging me for months about his individual and motorized mobility. Your suggestion is really something...
I don't want him playing alone on a 125 wild pig. And I have no desire or time for accompanied driving. Also, a Saab with more than 200 hp and a classic car with 160 hp, whose (too light) rear tends to break out in the rain, whose rear wheels spin easily even in dry second gear (wet asphalt also in third) are perhaps not for a novice driver so perfect...
Yes indeed, I will seriously consider the AMI. It could be of good service to my son but also to the parents. We don't live in the hotel. Our combustion engines are too good for short journeys and frequent cold starts. And no, I wouldn't have a problem transporting a seltzer box in the footwell and a shopping bag buckled on the passenger seat. The belt will already hold the baguettes, croissants and the ingredients for a salad niçois. After all, he's French...
Maybe not a bad addition to my Swedes, who can pretty much do everything - except short trips and novice drivers...
Thank you for the encouragement and the discussion.
Then I wish your son a lot of fun with 45 km/h and the Citroen Ami. Another traffic obstacle.
When your son is 18 years old, he will definitely want to drive a real car. It's not very sustainable. But that's just how our society has become.
My son says you're right and shows me all these Saabs ads he'd like to have when he's 18.
Motorized mobility dreams before the age of majority are off the table. I could live with that. Let's see if the filius is still interested in his chatter from yesterday? If not, I'll threaten him with an AMI again...
At least that's what she's good for. At least you really have to let her have that.