The new Citroën AMI will try to develop BEVs on a niche market
- Faced with the offensive of coming small A segment Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), such as the Smart Fortwo, Smart Forfour, Renault Twingo ZE, Volkswagen e-Up, Seat Mii Electric, Skoda Citigo Electric, Fiat 500 e, Citroën has just unveiled its own interpretation of a small electric urban electric car, the AMI. AMI is not a new model name in the history of Citroën, as it was the name of an old small sedan with thermal engine marketed in the 60s (Ami 6) and 70 (Ami 8).
- Directly derived from the AMI ONE CONCEPT presented at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, the new Citroën AMI comes in the form of a small two-seat, two-door vehicle. With 2.41m long, 1.39m wide and 1.52m high, the vehicle is more compact than a Smart Fortwo with which it can identify most. It has a 100% electric motor derived from other electric motors mounted on PSA vehicles (such as the Peugeot e-208, DS 3 CrossbackE-Tense...) but does not exceed 45 km/h and therefore can be driven without a driving licence.
- The battery capacity allows a range of only 70 kilometres(WLTP cycle), a distance deemed sufficient by the carmaker for a certain type of urban driver. The AMI vehicle would be offered at a price close to 6,000 euros (while a Smart Fortwo EQ is worth 23,000 euros) which makes it a truly low cost vehicle. It could also be used for car sharing in the Free2Move network. For the moment, it is impossible to predict a volume of sales for this model, because this one opens up a whole new market and it is not sure that the customers validate this type of vehicle.
- Indeed, PSA is trying to develop a niche market, which is quite popular in China: The Low Speed Electric Vehicle (LSEV) category. These small size vehicles are characterised by a short range(< 100 km), low speed (50~70km/h), low price, smaller battery and less biding crash test requirements. This category is quite popular in China in rural areas and urban suburbs (especially in the Shandong province) due to the fact that LSEV may be driven without a driver's license in many parts of China.
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