A new outfit exhibiting at the Paris Motor Show for the first time has come up with a fresh take on the French love affair with microcars. City Transformer’s debut model, the electric CT-1, is Citroen Ami-sized and almost as cute looking but with a shape-shifting trick up its sleeve which its makers say could go a long way to solving urban traffic chaos.
City Transformer CT‑1 is a shapeshifting EV with Lambo doors
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So what you get are two modes: Performance and City. Either is selectable on the go which is quite something because they physically alter the car’s footprint.
In City mode the electric CT-1 is not much wider than a motorbike, with wheels a super-slim 1m apart – perfect for squeezing through the narrowest gaps and into the tightest parking spaces, of which Paris has plenty of course (knowing Parisians, they will be driving these things down the pavements.)
Hit the button marked 'Performance' and the front and rear axles, with associated wheel arches and sills, slide out of the body by 200mm each side to give tracks of 1.4m, essential for the extra stability a wider track provides at higher speeds. For zig-zagging through the traffic up the Champs Elysees the CT-1 in snake-hips City mode is limited to 28mph, but in wide-body form the CT-1 can whizz around the Peripherique ring road at up to 56mph.
The firm behind it, City Transformer, claims shape-shifting like this can dramatically minimise urban congestion and transform parking availability. Company chief Udi Meridor says most of the traffic chaos in cities like Paris is a result of cars that are too big with just one person in.
He tells us: “The CT-1 is a sophisticated next-generation mobility solution for people living in congested urban areas such as Paris. The CT-1 is far easier to maintain on a day-to-day basis compared to conventional automobiles and represents a far safer solution compared to two-wheelers.”
So, would you pick this or a Citroen Ami? As funky little all-electric two-seat city cars, both are having a moment in the spotlight. The CT-1 has the better range (115 miles against the Ami’s 46) but that’s because it has bigger batteries and in turn weighs more – 590kg – and would likely cost more to buy. And that wouldn’t be before 2024.
The CT-1 would also inevitably be more complex even though City Transformer says that with 1,500 parts it is much simpler than the average EV. Even so, there’s a bit here to go wrong, and a shape-shifting malfunction at speed doesn’t bear thinking about…
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