We're adding Citroën's adorable electric dune buggy to our Christmas wish list
As if the standard Citroën Ami two-seat EV is not irresistible enough, the My Ami Buggy Concept comes along, tugging endlessly at our holiday-festooned heartstrings. It's fit and ready to go off-roading in the Lilliput national forest, and you can bring a friend along for the ride.
If you previously thought an open-top Ford Bronco (with deleted doors) is the ultimate conveyance for exploring the wilderness, Citroën's newest EV concept will make you do a double-take. "My Ami Buggy Concept needed to be functional and simple, in the purest spirit of iconic and contemporary industrial objects," said Samuel Pericles, designer of My Ami Buggy.
Unlike previous variants of the Ami (including an Ami cargo variant for microentrepreneurs), the concept has no doors. Instead, it has a transparent canvas rainproof curtain to shield you from the elements. Of course, these curtains can be pulled back or removed when necessary. A panoramic roof with a handy roof cap above the windscreen enhances the open-air feeling while shielding your eyes from excess sunlight.
Meanwhile, the off-road vibe continues with headlight grilles, chunkier bumpers, protective bullbars, and a roof rack with an LED light bar. The black, khaki, and yellow color theme is "inspired by camping equipment" and "reinforces the functional and robust nature of the vehicle," said Citroën. And yeah, those knobby mud tires and offset gold rims look magnificent, by the way.
The fun and outdoorsy theme extends inside. The seats feature thicker Advanced Comfort memory foam cushions that are removable, interchangeable, and washable. And like the Ami cargo, it has cleverly-designed and portable storage bins to hold your stuff. It has custom luggage designed to fit perfectly within the vehicle's multiple storage boxes. Oh, and most of its accessories are 3D-printed to perfection, which is fantastic.
Citroën made no mention of the powertrain, so we assume the buggy has a similar eight-horsepower electric motor and 5.5 kWh lithium-ion battery as the production Ami, enough for a 30 mph top speed and around 47 miles of zero-emissions driving. If the batteries run flat, it recharges in under three hours using a domestic 220V socket.
We're pretty sure the Ami Buggy Concept is small enough to fit in Santa's sleigh. But then again, good ole' Saint Nicholas could find it hard to resist the concept's oh-so-cute, outdoorsy vibe. Rudolph, watch your back.