Ami, the tiny cube on wheels that French 14-year-olds can drive

Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate

1 Warmer
Are you thinking of buying a car? Put these factors in order from 1 (most important) to 6 (least important).

1. ________________________________ a. its colour

2. ________________________________ b. its top speed
3. ________________________________ c. how environmentally friendly it is
4. ________________________________ d. the price
5. ________________________________ e. the make (the company that makes it)
6. ________________________________ f. how expensive it is to use

2 Key words
Complete the sentences using these key words from the text. The paragraph numbers will help you.

spacious envious doddle range licence

1. If you are _________________________, you are unhappy because you want to have something that
someone else has. (para 1)
2. A vehicle’s _________________________ is the distance it can travel before it needs more fuel. (para 3)
3. A _________________________ is an official document that gives someone permission to drive. (para 3)
4. If something is a _________________________, it is extremely easy. (para 4)
5. If something is _________________________, there is a lot of room in it. (para 4)

utilitarian affordable legendary scooter cute

6. A _________________________ is a vehicle with an engine and two wheels that looks like a small
motorcycle. (para 5)
7. If something is _________________________, it is attractive, usually small and easy to like. (para 8)
8. A _________________________ product has been famous or well known for a long time. (para 9)
9. A _________________________ product is designed to be useful not attractive. (para 9)
10. If something is _________________________, it is cheap enough for ordinary people to buy. (para 9)

3 Find the information

Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.
1. How many Citroën Amis were sold in the first two weeks?
2. What is the top speed of the Citroën Ami?
3. What is the range of the Citroën Ami?
4. How much does it cost?
5. What is the top speed limit in Paris?
6. When was the Citroën 2CV first produced?
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NEWS LESSONS / Ami, the tiny cube on wheels that French 14-year-olds can drive / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
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Ami, the tiny cube on wheels that French 14-year-olds can drive
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
Ami, the tiny cube on wheels that
French 14-year-olds can drive
Jon Henley
11 September, 2020
1 It is cheap and people have different opinions
about it. Some people cannot believe what they
are seeing, and others laugh. Some look envious
because they would like to buy one, and a few
give it a look of pity.
2 When you first see it, Citroën’s new Ami does not
seem the kind of car to excite French drivers. But
that is exactly what it is doing, perhaps because it
is not a car. “We sold 500 in the first two weeks,”
says Citroën’s Sylvie Krygier. “It’s because our
transport habits and needs are changing, and
almost everyone can buy and drive one.”
3 The Ami is a light quadricycle, Citroën says.
All-electric, 2.4 metres long and 1.4m wide, with a
top speed of 45km/h and a range of 75km, anyone
aged 14 or over in France can drive it without a
full licence. You can recharge its battery at home
in three hours, and it costs €6,000 to buy or €78 a
month. That is what most Parisians pay for a
train pass.
4 Driving it is a doddle. The inside is spacious,
you turn the key, select ‘D’ for ‘drive’ from the
three buttons to the left of your seat, release the
handbrake and press the accelerator pedal –
and you start moving. In front of you is a simple
display, which shows speed, battery level and
kilometres remaining before the next charge.
There is no boot, but there are storage nets for
small objects and room for shopping in front of the
passenger seat.
5 The idea of a 14-year-old driving it may seem
worrying, but Krygier says that lots of young
people already ride a scooter but the Ami is better
than that. There are four wheels not just two, and
you are safely inside a metal box frame.
6 The Ami reaches 45km/h quite quickly and can go
no faster, but in the traffic jams of Paris – where
speed limits vary from 20km/h to 50km/h – that is
not necessary or even possible. The brakes work
well, and you can fit two Amis into a standard
parking space.
Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2020.
NEWS LESSONS / Ami, the tiny cube on wheels that French 14-year-olds can drive / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
7 “You could keep it in the corridor,” one man said
as we were taking photographs. “It’s perfect for
Paris,” said a lady on the Boulevard de Grenelle.
“Even I could drive that. Why would you
need more?”
8 Some comments were less friendly. “You should
be in the bike lane!” shouted one driver. But on the
rue Saint-Lazare, two young women stared open-
mouthed. “How did you get it?” asked one. “I’ve
been trying to book a test drive in an Ami for days
and it’s impossible. I really want one. I love it. It’s
practical, it’s environmentally friendly, it’s small, it’s
really … cute.”
9 In its design, says Krygier, the Ami looks a bit like
Citroën’s legendary Deux Chevaux, or 2CV, the
very small car created in the 1930s as a cheap,
utilitarian model to make driving affordable for
most people. Produced from 1948 to 1990, nearly
4 million of them were sold. Like the 2CV, the
Ami has flip-up windows, while other simple,
money-saving ideas include identical doors
(meaning one opens backwards and the other
frontwards).
10 You can buy the Ami from Citroën but also from
France’s big electronic and electrical goods shops.
Krygier says all kinds of people are buying the
vehicle, but it is really popular with families with
teenage children. According to the company’s
data, about half of all Ami buyers have one car
and at least two children. More than 40% of those
driving Amis are under 18. Most users say they
like it because it is environmentally friendly, and
for more than 30% of users, not taking public
transport – in a time of Covid – was an
important reason.
© Guardian News and Media 2020
First published in The Guardian, 11/09/20
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Ami, the tiny cube on wheels that French 14-year-olds can drive
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
4 Comprehension check
Match the beginnings and endings to make statements about the text.

1. The Citroën Ami is a small electric vehicle that …
2. It is completely electric, and you can …
3. It is so small that you can fit …
a. … two Amis into one normal parking space.
b. … anyone in France aged 14 or over can drive
without a licence.
c. … that they like it because it is very environmentally
friendly.

4. The display is very simple and … d. … families with teenage children.

5. The Ami is very popular with … e. … only shows speed, battery level and the number of
kilometres before you need to recharge the battery.

6. Most people who use the Ami say … f. … recharge its battery at home in three hours.

5 Chunks
Rearrange the words to make phrases from the text.

1. speed kilometres of hour a forty-five top per

2. over or anyone fourteen aged
3. seat in the passenger front of
4. are there nets storage objects for small
5. jams of traffic Paris the
6. the seat your left to of

6 Driving instructions
Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the nouns or noun phrases in the right-hand column to make
phrases from the text.

1. recharge a. the handbrake

2. select b. the accelerator pedal
3. release c. the key
4. press d. the battery
5. turn e. a test drive
6. book f. ‘D’ for ‘drive’
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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2020.

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NEWS LESSONS / Ami, the tiny cube on wheels that French 14-year-olds can drive / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
CA O
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Ami, the tiny cube on wheels that French 14-year-olds can drive
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
7 Prepositions
Complete the phrases from the text using these prepositions.

from of at to for in

1. storage nets _________ small objects

2. vary _________ 20km/h _________ 50km/h
3. _________ the bike lane
4. all kinds _________ people
5. _________ least two children

8 Discussion
Would you like to drive a small vehicle like the Ami in a busy city like Paris? Why? Why not?

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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2020.

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FR BE C
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NEWS LESSONS / Ami, the tiny cube on wheels that French 14-year-olds can drive / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
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