6 minute read
Business Class Motoring James Stinson
Citroen’s Urban Travel Revolution
All-electric Citroen Ami now UK’s cheapest car, writes James Stinson.
The tiny all-electric Ami falls somewhere between a scooter and a small car with prices starting at £8,095 and monthly finance deals available from just £19.99 a month.
It has a 5.5kWh battery which can be fully charged in three hours. The battery powers a 6kW electric motor, allowing for a modest top speed of 28mph and a range of up to 46 miles. Because the battery is so small, it can be completely recharged from a three-pin socket in around three hours. The two-seater Ami is a mere 2.41 metres long. It also has a London taxi-like 7.2-metre turning circle, meaning it should be a doddle to park. More than 50% of its upper body is glazed, too, which makes for good all-round visibility. Citroen says the Ami was designed as a safer urban transport solution than a scooter or a bicycle, and that it was priced to compete with public transport. To hit that low pricepoint, Citroen made the car as symmetrical as possible to save money on making lots of moulds. So, the production car’s driver and passenger doors are identical – the driver’s one is hinged on the rear edge, while the passenger’s one is hinged at the front – which means Citroen only had to design and manufacture one panel. The left and right-side windows, front and rear bumpers and front and rear underbody panels are all symmetrical for the same reason. The lead-in Ami trim offers the most affordable point of entry to the Ami 100% electric line-up, priced at only £8,095. Standard specifi cation includes a digital speedometer, LED front and rear lights, a panoramic glass sunroof and a USB charging port. Customers can enhance their Ami by adding one of three Colour Packs: Orange, Blue or Grey. These are priced at £400 and are specifi cally designed to be fi tted at home. Adding a splash of colour to the Ami’s quirky styling, each pack comes with colour-coded wheel trims, colour-coded rear pillar decals, three colour-coded dashboard storage boxes, a colour-coded dashboard bag hook, exterior door capsules, two door storage nets with a colour-coded horizontal band and two black fl oor mats with colour-coded trim.
In addition, all Colour Packs add a separation net between the driver and passenger footwells, a smartphone cradle for the dashboard and the DAT@AMI connection box that allows customers to consult their Ami’s charge status, and more, from the MyCitroën mobile app. Ami customers can also choose from two higher trim levels offering even greater levels of customisation: 'Ami Pop' and 'Ami Tonic'. Ami vehicles are sold exclusively online, with customers placing their orders through a dedicated Citroen Ami digital platform.
VW Keeps The Cabrio Spirit Alive
Curiously, people in the UK buy more cabriolets than any other country in Europe. And when I asked a car company executive about this some years ago, he explained by saying that while our weather isn’t great… when it’s good we like to enjoy it to the full.
But our love affair with drop-top motoring could be on the wane, according to sales fi gures. In 2017, there were nearly 50k cabriolets sold in the UK but last year that number had fallen to fewer than 21k. Some commentators claim it’s because British summers are now too hot – and by that they must mean the south of England…. The cost-of-living squeeze could be another factor, with cabriolets still seen as something of a luxury purchase. Just as importantly perhaps is that manufacturers just don’t seem to be making the effort they once did in this segment. The global semi-conductor shortage has seen manufacturers target resources to the most in-demand models, which means big-selling SUVs and electric vehicles.
So, it’s refreshing to see that VW, a carmaker with unrivalled drop-top pedigree, is keeping the cabriolet version of its SUV-like T-Roc front and centre of the range. Indeed, the updated T-Roc Cabriolet now benefi ts from many of the enhancements applied to its fi ve-door, hard-top sibling. These include a refreshed design, additional interior luxury, the availability of IQ.Light LED Matrix headlights and new paint colours, as well as a new ‘Style’ trim to replace the previous Design specifi cation. Two petrol engine options continue for the T-Roc Cabriolet: a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder unit producing 110 PS, and a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder engine with 150 PS. The T-Roc Cabriolet range starts at £30,530 for the Style trim, equipped with the 1.0-litre engine with manual gearbox, and from £34,170 for the T-Roc Cabriolet R-Line, which is available exclusively with the 1.5-litre 150 PS TSI engine.
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NEW ROUTES SWELL DUBLIN AIRPORT PASSENGER NUMBERS
The thirst for overseas travel has returned with considerable gusto in 2022. Through the first nine months of the year, more than 21 million passengers passed through the departure and arrival gates of Dublin Airport, flying off to and arriving from the ever-growing list of destinations that the airport serves. Following two years of COVID lockdowns and strict travel restrictions, demand remains extremely high in Northern Ireland for overseas trips. This surging demand has presented a significant challenge for both airports and the aviation industry generally, with passenger numbers at Dublin Airport now back at more than 90% of pre-pandemic levels.
The team at Dublin Airport has worked tirelessly this summer to respond to this challenge. While the response of other airports around Europe and the UK to the sharp rebound in passenger numbers has been to cut the number of flights and limit passenger capacity, Dublin Airport’s approach has been different as it has worked to ensure that the hundreds of thousands of families were able to get away on their much-anticipated holidays and breaks away this summer, while at the same time facilitating the many tens of thousands of business trips that occur each week.
All signs point to a busy autumn and winter ahead, before an expected further recovery in passenger numbers in 2023, fuelled by an everexpanding selection of destinations. This year, Dublin Airport is serving more than 180 destinations worldwide through a total of 43 airline partners.
Recent months have seen a string of new destinations being added at Dublin Airport, including EgyptAir’s new year-round service to Cairo, and PLAY’s four-times-per-week route to Reykjavik. Access to the Middle East continues to grow also, with Emirates recently re-instating its second daily flight to Dubai, which had been paused during the pandemic, while Aer Lingus has announced the revival of its daily transatlantic service from Dublin Airport to Hartford, Connecticut and a new route to Cleveland, Ohio as part of its summer 2023 schedule.
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