The Citroën Ami is coming to the UK

Citroën says that an “unprecedented” 12,000 Brits have registered their interest in it. We understand that: when we drove an Ami in the UK earlier this year we concluded it was the future of electric urban mobility. As well as seriously cute…

We are going to get it in left-hand-drive only, but it is so tiny (at 2.4m, 300mm shorter than a Smart Fortwo) it hardly matters which side the driver is on. And as Citroën says, being a left-hooker means you get out on the kerbside.

Like the French version, the two doors either side are identical and interchangeable, meaning one is hinged at the front, the other at the back – just one example of Citroën quirkiness at its ingenious best.

Citroën is promising a stack of colourful ways to personalise your Ami, showing one in Union flag livery to prove the point. There are no prices yet, though. In France the Ami costs from 6,000 euros (about £5,200) to buy outright, or can be rented for around 20 euros a month. You can even rent one by the minute like a Zip car or Boris bike. Citroën is yet to explain how it will market the Ami in this country.

Knowing how much the French pay for their Amis, as we do, will surely guarantee this French breath of electric fresh air has to stay very affordable – far more so than its main rival, the Renault Twizy, which starts at £12k and increasingly looks like a very expensive novelty. In comparison, the Ami is far more conventionally car-like with a much greater perception of safety and comfort.

But as we found when we drove it, “car-like” is a relative term. There might be okay room for two people and a shopping bag but with a range 46 miles, the local shop and back is about as far as you will get. The 5.5 kWh lithium-ion battery can be charged up from a domestic plug in three hours.

The top speed is 28mph ­– slow, but very difficult to argue against when there are so many 20mph zones in areas where this car will be most at home, and where it will be exempt from congestion and Ultra-low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) charges.

But there’s bad news for young drivers. Unlike France where the Ami is classed as a light quadricycle and can be driven by 14 years olds, a full UK driving licence will be needed here.

A £250 refundable deposit will guarantee you a place in what promises to be a long queue…