Citroen Ami coming to U.K.

[A Former User]

So the Citroen Ami will be coming to the U.K. for under £6,000 (£5,945).
Apparently 12,000 Brits registered interest in the car.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/citroen/351749/ps6k-citroen-ami-electric-city-car-gets-green-light-uk

The news was confirmed by Citroen CEO Vincent Cobée who told Auto Express, “We have agreed and decided that we will bring Ami to the UK as it is – as a left-hand drive car – in the early part of next year.”

Citroen has already had over 12,000 people in the UK register their interest in Ami, with order books now open so cars can be reserved with a £250 refundable fee.
Auto Express understands that Ami prices in the UK are expected to be close to those in Europe. In France, the basic Ami costs €6,990 (£5,945) rising to €8,350 (£7,119) for the My Ami Vibe.

“You look at the vehicle as left hand drive – is it a problem? You’re not that far away from the right-hand side anyway so I think that’s irrelevant. And I’ve got 12,000 people who’ve registered their interest already – they’re people in cities and in rural areas.”

Cobée admitted that the work done by Citroen UK MD Eurig Druce and his team has persuaded him to bring the car to the UK. “We never planned it for the UK,” said Cobée, “But Eurig said ‘I’ll show you I can sell it.’ This is the type of business I like.”

EDIT: added, power, range and top speed.
Powered by an 8bhp motor fed by a 5.5kWh battery, giving it a range of up to 46 miles and a top speed of 28mph. A full charge from either plug will take three hours.

Also Opel has unveiled a Citroen Ami spin-off called the Opel Rocks-e in Germany.
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/citroen/355835/new-opel-rocks-e-revealed-citroen-ami-based-micro-ev

[ForSweden]

@svend lucky rosbifs

[ranwhenparked]

@svend I love the style and basic concept of this, and am glad that enough people can use it for it to get into production and out into the world.

But, damn, 28mph would make it beyond useless within more than about a 1 mile radius of my house, and only then with very careful route planning. Of course, you're talking about very different driving conditions continent to continent, which is why they've never promised to make the Ami a global product. Unless, maybe, they want to take a crack at a Hellcat version?

[SamV8]

@ranwhenparked said in Citroen Ami coming to U.K.:

28mph would make it beyond useless

it would make it so fucking infuriating to have to sit behind, yes I am one of those people that get annoyed at others for not doing the speed limit (or a little over)

[A Former User]

@ranwhenparked
In the U.K. if your doing more than 28mph in cities (where the speed limit in itself is 30mph, 40mph in more rural areas, etc... I won't go into it it's a whole long thing),
and some areas having 20mph speed limits in residential and school areas, as I say, if your doing more than 28mph, your likely in a stolen/untaxed/uninsured/unlicenced driver and being chased by police.
Even where I am, a small city south of the Scottish border, 28mph during the day is a dream people have.
Lets be honest, many of these cars would never appeal to a North American driver nor will the vast majority ever be aimed at the North American driver. Too many in NA love big rigs, bro trucks, etc...
To the very few they'd appeal to wouldn't come close to making it worthwhile offering the existing vehicle to NA, never mind the cost and work to trying to make it appeal to the NA driver or NA driving style with larger battery packs/faster/longer range.

[ranwhenparked]

@svend Just turning out of the street I live on puts me on a 45mph road, even country back roads are 55+. Theoretically, it's only 25-35mph in the downtown area, but the only reason to go there is if you have some business with a government agency, like getting a building permit or picking up a package the Postal Service lost. Or, if you just really enjoy getting stabbed or shot outside some shitty dive bar on a Saturday night.

Could see it working pretty well in a place like Key West - decent parking availability, slow speeds, short travel distances. They had a large amount of those Norwegian Th!nk vehicles as rental cars for years after production stopped, the Ami is kind of a modern version of those.

[A Former User]

@samv8
I've added the power, range, speed and time to full charge to the above.
At 28mph and 46 miles range (which will likely be optimal driving conditions, take away some range for heating the interior on cold days, driving up some British hilly cities, etc...), this makes it pretty much a strictly city car.
Even in my small city the only time I can get above 30mph is very early in the morning when there's no traffic and even then the speed limit on that stretch is 30mph.

[SamV8]

@svend I can pretty much always drive 30mph in my town (and its a rather large/populated town)

[Jb boin]

For those who don't know, it's smaller than a Smart and sold as a quadricycle so it's not qualified as a car (and is more of an alternative to a mopped/scooter), it cost about half the price of a Sandero in the middle trim level.

So yes, it would not make sense in most of the US but it does in other places.

[A Former User]

@ranwhenparked
Ye', this'll be a strictly city car with it's speed and range.
There are many more cars that are compact and longer range and higher speed.
BMW i3, Fiat 500E, Honda Honda E, Renault Zoe,

Seat Mii (and it's sister the VW UP!),

[Mr.Ontop]

@svend I hate that the front and back are damn near identical and also that they saw fit to steal the wheels from the Fiat 500e

[A Former User]

@samv8
Much luckier than most then and a vehicle like this likely won't appeal that much to people in your town that think driving 28mph is too slow.

[Jb boin]

@mr-ontop said in Citroen Ami coming to U.K.:

@svend I hate that the front and back are damn near identical and also that they saw fit to steal the wheels from the Fiat 500e

It's made this way so most body parts are identical on both sides so it cost less.

And the wheels are rather similar to the Renault Twizy than the 500e :

[ranwhenparked]

@jb-boin As an electric vehicle limited to 28mph, it does very nearly meet US standards for a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) - in fact, I believe the only thing they'd need to do to sell it here as such would be to govern it down to 25mph. The pricing, style, and packaging would make it competitive with the fancy golf carts people buy in big retirement communities, like The Villages.

The market potential is too small for Stellantis themselves to bother with, but I do wonder if an independent importer won't wind up bringing them in for sale at some point. Doing so with an NEV is obviously much more feasible for such a business than with a "real" car.

[A Former User]

@mr-ontop
The design is part of the saving, etc... Why the driver and passenger doors up one from the front and one from the back, the front and rear panels are the same as are the doors.

[Darkbrador]

@svend said in Citroen Ami coming to U.K.:

€8,350 (£7,119) for the My Ami Vibe

I'll take mine as a My Ami Vice model.

[A Former User]

@darkbrador
And have this blasting out the speakers.

[Mr.Ontop]

@svend That doesn't make me like it any better.

[A Former User]

@mr-ontop
Personally I love the idea of it, you don't like the front/rear, I'm not all that enamoured with the doors. I can see why it is that way, but ye'.

[pip bip]

@svend will Vauxhall sell it too? either as a Vauxhall or Opel?

[Jb boin]

@pip-bip said in Citroen Ami coming to U.K.:

@svend will Vauxhall sell it too? either as a Vauxhall or Opel?

Yes, in Germany, it's the Rocks-e :

[pip bip]

@jb-boin but is it going to be sold in the UK as an Opel or Vauxhall?

[Jb boin]

@pip-bip said in Citroen Ami coming to U.K.:

@jb-boin but is it going to be sold in the UK as an Opel or Vauxhall?

I don't think so as it will be sold as a Citroën, in Germany it will only be sold as an Opel if I am not mistaken.

[A Former User]

@pip-bip
Unlikely, Citroen were going to only do France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Portugal.
Looks like Opel would rather have their badge in Germany than Citroen.
The U.K. is only an addition and not intended to be available originally, so they wouldn't want to dilute the sales between Citroen and Vauxhall dealerships.