OK, COMMENTS SECTION. Let me get there before you.

Yes, the Citroën Ami makes little sense.

Me and my ami Paddy Comyn Paddy Comyn

Yes, it is slow. Yes, it taps out at 45 km/h meaning it’s the first time I received road rage from a Yaris-driving pensioner. Yes, you can buy a decent second-hand car for the same price. Yes, if you were hit by another vehicle at any sort of speed you might not be on solids for a while. I know, I know, I know!

But for some reason, I love the Citroën Ami.

For those of you who have never heard of the Citroën Ami, it is probably the cheapest new vehicle on sale in 2026. The basic version comes in under €10,000. It is an electric vehicle with a tiny electric motor and battery, a range of 75km on a full charge which takes four hours to fully charge from a standard three-pin plug.

It has two seats, proper seatbelts, and well, little else. It only comes in left-hand drive, and it is mostly made out of hard-wearing plastic.

In fact, it is made out of ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic, the same tough, versatile plastic used in things like Lego bricks and pipework, mounted on a tubular steel frame.

Using ABS panels lets Citroën reuse identical front/rear panels and quarterlights across the body, cutting production costs. The front of the Ami is the same as the back and the left and right doors are the same, just hinged at the back on the driver’s side and at the front on the passenger side.

The Ami isn’t really a car, however. It is classed as a L6e-BP light quadricycle, the same EU vehicle category as mopeds and light quadricycles generally, but with a roof and four wheels. Normally, light quadricycles (L6e) fall under the AM licence category in Ireland, driveable from age 16.

But the Irish-spec Ami puts out 6kW of power, which is above the 4kW threshold that keeps a vehicle in that AM/light-quadricycle licence bracket. Because it exceeds that limit, it actually needs a full category B........

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