Meet Ami, the tiny 28mph cube on wheels that affluent French 14-year-olds can drive

France’s golden youth is in the throes of a craze for les voiturettes - little cars teenagers can drive without a licence that have become a hit along the Riviera.

A trendy but pricey alternative to public transport and the classic moped - often seen as too dangerous - the electric two-seaters have also become popular on the sun-kissed Mediterranean island of Corsica.

Getting a driving licence is a tough and expensive option in France, and driving alone is open to the over-18s.

On the other hand, la voiture sans permis, or VSP, as the cars without licences are officially dubbed, can be driven by anyone aged 14 or over with as little as eight hours’ training, including three behind the wheel.

The Covid pandemic has accelerated the trend as the drive for individual transport gathers pace.

But they come at a price; the higher-end models can cost up to €18,000 (£15,000), complete with air conditioning, reversing cameras and top-flight sound systems.

Baptiste, 17, posed proudly before a brand new Ligier sports version bought second hand for €10,500 with imitation black leather seats, Bluetooth and a touchscreen.

“It’s so cool,” said the private lycée student from the chic rue Paradis in Marseille, where such cars are ten a penny.

“I’ve been waiting for it for three years. I wanted to have my own autonomy,” he said, adding that public transport was a pain from his suburban home.

Despite the “sports” label, the slight drawback is that all voiturettes’ top authorised speed is 28mph and cannot be driven on motorways or expressways. However, they are cheap to run, turn on a dime and are easy to park.

Once seen as risible little “yoghurt pots” mainly for an ageing rural population too old for a proper car or who may have lost their licence due to drink-driving, voiturettes have morphed into a must-have accessory for France’s affluent youth.

“Brands have copied the design of models that please adults,” said Stéphanie Lecocq, head of Piècre sans permis, a company selling spare parts for cars without licenses.

Sales have gathered speed since France introduced legislation in 2014 making such four-wheelers legal for motorists of 14 and up as long as the power did not surpass 6kW.

'At the end of the day it’s a moped with a body'

Franck Bellavia, a VSP vendor in Marseille, said: “Our historic clientele were mostly people who never got a licence, or with a disability. The trend has reversed and now we sell to youth. At the end of the day it’s a moped with a body, which is reassuring for parents.”

“We’ve seen a snowball effect and now parking areas in secondary schools and college look increasingly like exhibition halls” given the number of models on show, he added.

According to Ludovic Dirand, commercial director of Ligier Group, some 14,087 such cars were sold between January and August 2021 compared to 11,235 over the same period in 2020 and sales have doubled in the past five years. Half of the 25,000-odd vehicles sold annually in Europe find takers in France. The market in Italy is also booming.

While it is still a niche market, the “sans P”, as the French now dub the little car, is becoming increasingly affordable, in particular since Citroën last year introduced l’Ami, an electric voiturette at the relatively low price of €6,900. According to the French carmaker, 77 per cent of the buyers are “multi-motorised” families with two teenagers and “more than 40 per cent of users are under 18”.

“It’s much more affordable and more practical to have an electric vehicle than to go to the petrol pump,” said Rocc’Antonio, a 16-year old lycée student in Ajaccio, Corsica, where sales have doubled over the past year.

While companies like Microcar, Aixam, Ligier and other manufacturers are aiming their publicity at young urbanites, they also target parents weary of providing a taxi service to their offspring.

In Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, Gwenola, the mother of Evan, 16, who is an apprentice baker, said she couldn’t take driving him to the boulangerie at the crack of dawn anymore.

“I was getting up at 4.30am to take him,” she said. “We wanted to offer him a vehicle so he could be autonomous.”

Evan quipped that he preferred driving alone. “I prefer being in the warm, away from the rain and without my mum by my side,” he told France Bleu.