If you want to cross Paris in the car during the rush hour on weekdays or even find a parking space in this city, you will not doubt that a new kind of mobility is needed here. Doubts do you at most in the minds of motorists who continue to torture in their far too large companions through the city.

This problem has many cities, the automakers struggle for solutions to the traffic infarction. As the French solution could look like, the car manufacturer Citroen has now shown: "Ami One" is the study and is unusual. The two-seater looks as if Lego had devised a cube on wheels: 2.50 meters short and 1.50 meters wide and high.

AFP

The Citroen Ami 6

Connoisseurs of the Citroen brand history are listening to the name "Ami". This was the name of a French vehicle, a derivative of the famous "duck," which looked extremely bizarre: with glazed-eyed headlamps and a rear window drawn in at an angle. But with him the Ami One has so little to do as a CRT with an OLED flat screen.

Electric - of course

Of course, it should be electrically powered - for free travel through all prohibited zones. Despite its tiny size, the Ami One looks sturdy and stands out clearly from the Renault Twizy. In addition, sitting in the Citroen occupants side by side and are protected from wind and weather. The battery should supply power for 100 kilometers and be refilled after two hours at a public charging station. More reveals Citroen on technical data not.

In general, Citroen is visibly striving to keep the ball flat when presenting the Ami One. Still, this vehicle is a "pure study," says Citroen CEO Linda Jackson. At the same time, she is sure that the Ami One has "the potential to become an urban icon". To reiterate, "There are no decisions as to whether and when we will build such a car."

The concept is always interesting. It also occupies a niche that no other major manufacturer has dared to date. Because the city car is not considered a full-fledged car, but falls with its 425 kilograms in the L6e category (light vehicles up to 45 km / h top speed), it requires no usual car driving license. In Germany, the Ami One could already drive 16-year-old teenagers, in France you can even 14 years behind the wheel. Citroen sees the Ami One as an alternative to e-bikes, e-scooters and kick scooters.

Everything wrong?

In its size, however, there is also a risk of the concept. "It is one of the biggest challenges in the industry to make money with micro and small cars," says Stefan Bratzel, Head of Center for Automotive Management (CAM) in Bergisch Gladbach.

Smart wrote with his city runabout, almost a decade after production start losses. The Twizy should not be a source of income for Renault. The quantities are extremely low. In Germany, the small Frenchman did not even manage to reach four-digit sales figures last year. "We have to find completely new approaches here to keep the costs under control," says Xavier Peugeot, "the Ami One would not be built in the traditional way."

Citroen's brand manager sees the highest possible degree of symmetrical components as a prerequisite for success. If you take a closer look at the Ami One, you will notice that the fenders diagonally offset, for example, are absolutely identical (front left corresponds to right rear, rear left corresponds to front right). The hood and rear section resemble each other identical twins, only the rear is upside down in relation to the front. Even the doors including hinges are the same parts, which leads to a curiosity in the automotive industry: While the front passenger door opens normally, the driver's door is hinged behind and thus opens to the front.

Nothing works without a smartphone

Citroen also wants to break new ground in the sales concept, should the Ami One eventually come. "We offer" Use on Demand, "Jackson says," from sharing to long-term leasing. "The magic number is called" five. "The customer can book the Ami One for just five minutes, but also for five hours, five days, for months or even for five years.

Unsurprisingly, the smartphone is the key to happiness in Ami One. The cube is opened with the mobile phone via a QR code. In front of the instrument panel, there is a tray for inductive charging. If the smartphone is there, its surface is mirrored in the windshield (head-up display). The navigation is also completely on the phone. Operation is via two switches on the steering wheel, one is for voice control, the other controls the apps.

U. Baumgarten via Getty Images

The Peugeot BB1

Everything super innovative so? Not quite: The idea of ​​a micro-car in the L6e segment already had someone in the PSA group. Eight years ago, sister brand Peugeot introduced the BB1, a rumpled version of the Smart. Michelin even developed special wheel hub motors for its drive. Peugeot spoke courageously of a possible production version. The market launch should be 2013, but this never happened.