Citroen C1 goes electric
AMI One concept hints at new electric small car
CITROEN is considering a radical plan to replace its C1 city car with a version of the AMI One concept (previewed in our exclusive images), Auto Express has learned.
The French manufacturer’s participation in the smallest class of vehicle has recently been questioned, due to diminishing returns on investment in such models. The PSA group’s partner on its city cars, Toyota, has already announced that it will assume control of the Czech factory where the C1 is produced alongside its sister vehicles, the Toyota Aygo and Peugeot’s 108.
But the Japanese firm has only committed to continuing to produce “the current generation of these vehicles” – potentially leaving the French manufacturers badly in need of a replacement model by 2021.
Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, Citroen CEO Linda Jackson said that her firm already knows that it will not directly replace its current entry-level model.
“I don’t think any manufacturer is really making money on the smallest cars,” she said. “So in your business plan you’re asking yourself, ‘What solution could we give to those people? Do they tend to use their cars in cities? Is it an evolution that should become more of a mobility-type object?’
“We haven’t decided fully yet, but I don’t think we’ll replace C1 with a C1. We need to find an alternative form of transport for those people who are using C1s.”
Electric
When asked whether even the indirect successor would need to be electric, Jackson said: “I personally think it does need to be electric. If we look at our C1 customers, they’re mostly living in cities. So yes, it will probably go electric. But equally, I’m not sure a lot of those customers will necessarily want a car all of the time.”
That’s a reference to the fast-developing world of car-sharing, which Citroen could include in a range of solutions at the lower end of its range, instead of relying on just one vehicle or ownership model.
Jackson said: “We’re finding that a lot of C1 customers want a bit more space, so they are gravitating towards C3 anyway. Maybe C3 as a [mobility] service could be a solution. We’ll create something that is relevant for that type of customer, but it’s not going to be in exactly the same vein.”
Auto Express understands that one of the proposals under serious consideration is a range of rental services based on the AMI One – and our exclusive images show how the concept, revealed at the Geneva show in March, could look in production form.
The vehicle might well retain some of the key cost-saving elements of the show car, including identical panels where possible and a pared-back interior designed for multiple users who are willing to have smartphone-based in-car systems instead of a conventional dashboard.
A production AMI One would not meet all of the customer needs currently fulfilled by the C1. But Citroen could offer the vehicle – which has been conceived as a quadricycle rather than a full car – as its urban solution, especially for younger drivers who may not want the cost of securing a driving licence.
The firm could then, in theory, cater for many of the remaining C1 buyers by offering the slightly-larger C3 through different ownership schemes, including daily or even hourly rental, and car-sharing. Citroen has experience of the last of those concepts through a scheme called Earn & Drive, which allows owners to hire out their cars at specific locations to recoup some of their expense on the vehicles.
Jackson also revealed to Auto Express that Earn & Drive – which she says has let some buyers “basically have a C1 for nothing” – will be expanded in conjunction with a partner in 2020. “We’ve learned a lot from that scheme,” the chief executive said, “and one thing is that the geographical spread needed to be wider. But it has been a successful idea and we’ll follow it up.”
Auto Express understands that the potential significance of the AMI One project became clear to Citroen during research carried out as part of the concept’s development. It looked at the attitudes of younger drivers towards shared or rented vehicles, as well as the idea of using a smartphone as an instrument panel.
“Car-sharing is something that’s going to come, but it’s going to take time for people to get used to it,” Jackson said. “Maybe it’s a generational thing, too; younger people are more for it. When we did research for AMI One, where the process is generated and managed completely on your phone, people felt completely at ease with that idea.”
“I don’t think we will replace the current C1 with a C1. We need to find an alternative for people who are using C1s.’
LINDA JACKSON Citroen CEO