Citroën · 1961–1978

Citroën Ami 6

The Citroën Ami is an economy car which was manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1961 to 1978 over two generations, called the Ami 6 and the Ami 8. A family car, the Ami is front-wheel drive and was made in multiple body styles, including saloon car and estate car variants. The later Ami 8 fastback saloon featured a steeply raked rear window, in contrast to the earlier reverse-raked rear window of the Ami 6 notchback. Over 1,840,396 units were manufactured over the entire production run. The Ami and Citroën Dyane were replaced by the Citroën Visa and Citroën Axel.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Predecessor: Citroën 2CV · Successor: Citroën Visa

All Citroën Ami 6 data: UK builds, safety, recalls, model years →

Name

Ami is the French word for "friend". With its 602 cc engine capacity fractionally above the limit for 2 CV designation, the Ami was nicknamed the 3CV, differentiating it from the long established Citroën 2CV. 3CV stands for Trois chevaux, or "three horses" — CV originally being the initials for "chevaux-vapeur" (horsepower – literally 'steam horses'), but used here for "chevaux fiscaux". The "cheval fiscal" was a French fiscal unit based on engine size with the smaller CV designating economy cars.

Overview

The Citroën Ami had its formal French launch on 25 April 1961, four months ahead of the August introduction of the widely anticipated Renault 4. Both the Renault 4 and the Citroën Ami responded to a perceived market need for a vehicle slightly larger and less rustic than the 2CV. The Ami is a rebodied 2CV with certain mechanical upgrades (particularly a larger engine than the 1950s 2CV) to compensate for the added weight. At launch all the cars were powered by an air cooled 602 cc two-cylinder flat engine which would also be offered at extra cost in the 2CV from 1970. The platform chassis and suspension is similar to the 2CV, being independent all round using leading and trailing arms and coil springs interconnected front to rear. For a detailed suspension description see Citroën 2CV. The Ami's seats were easily removable. Sales pitches of the Ami included photographs of the seats being used as picnic chairs.

Technical innovation

The Ami and the Ford Taunus P3 were the first cars with rectangular or lozenge-shaped (non-round) headlights. This technical innovation was developed by lighting manufacturers Hella (Taunus) and Cibie (Ami). Soon this innovation found its way to the exclusive coach built Maserati 5000 GT.

Initial sales

The car went on sale in France in April 1961, though Citroën implemented some simple upgrades in time for the Paris Motor Show only six months later. The most visible change involved the replacement of the fixed windows on the rear doors with two-part horizontal sliding windows, similar to those already fitted on the front doors. Sales initially were not as good as those of the older 2CV; the Ami's first full year of production was 1962, during which only 85,358 of the cars were sold, while the thirteen-year-old 2CV managed 144,759 sales during the same period. Although the Ami had a modern body, it shared the aggressively minimalist underpinnings of the older car, and this made it hard to justify a starting price for the Ami which, at the end of 1961, was 35% higher.

Versions

The 1961 Ami 6 sedan is distinguished by an unusual reverse-raked notchback rear window, similar in style to the 1959 Ford Anglia 105E in Great Britain. A similar design feature was used on the first generation three-door Citroën C4. This design feature first appeared on the US 1953 Packard Balboa-X show car. It was first put into production on the 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser and 1958-1960 Lincoln Continentals. In the American cars the rear window could be opened as an aid to ventilation before air conditioning became standardised, and in the American fashion was given a name, the "Breezeway Window". The later Ami 8 saloon has a fastback rear window. It was redesigned by the French car design and bodywork company, Heuliez. Most notable changes were the front part and bonnet and the sloping, rather than inverted, rear window on the saloon. The estate version of the Ami 8, the 'Break' had a similar general appearance to that of the Ami 6 although the later car's taillights were integrated into the rear wings. The Ami Super, sometimes also called Ami 10, was a flat-4 variant powered by the engine of the GS and produced between 1973 and 1976. The Ami Super was offered in the same three trim levels as the Ami 8, Luxe, Confort and Club on Saloon and Luxe and Confort on the 'Break' versions. These trim differences were fairly minor with Luxe models having bench front and rear seats and vinyl floor matting. Confort trim offered reclining front seats in place of the front bench. The Club models can be considered the Pallas of the Ami range featured sound proofing pads on the floor and bulkhead, carpet including boot lining, stainless steel trim on the window frames and side rubbing strips on the doors and rear wings. Club trim was only available up to the end of the 1973 model

Production

The Ami 6 was the first model manufactured at the new Citroën plant in Rennes opened in 1961, where later the Dyane and GS were manufactured. Spain The Ami 6 and Ami 8 were also built by Citroën Hispania in Vigo (Spain) from 1967 to 1978, but they were never called "Ami" because of a legal problem with that name. The equivalences with French-built models are: Ami 6 berline: never built in Spain. Ami 6 break old model (M4 type engine): Citroën Estate 3cv. Ami 6 break new model (M28 type engine): Citroën Dynam. Ami 8 berline: Citroën 8 or C-8. Ami 8 break: Citroën 8 Familiar (or just Citroën Familiar). Yugoslavia Beside Spain, in Europe Ami was also built in Yugoslavia, in Slovenian factory Cimos where many other Citroën models were produced for the Yugoslav market. Argentina Out of Europe, the Ami 8 was made until 1978 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was only built in the estate version in either "Club" or "Elysee" trims. It was exported to Uruguay, Paraguay, and in CKD kits to Arica, Chile from 1976. Chilean assembly was shut down in favour of the Citroën CX in early 1978.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

name: Citroën Ami
Manufacturer: Citroën
Production: 1961–1978
Assembly: France: Rennes (Chartres-de-Bretagne quarter), Argentina: Buenos Aires, Belgium: Forest, Brussels, Portugal: Mangualde (Mangualde Plant), Spain: Vigo (Vigo Plant), Yugoslavia: Koper, Slovenia (Cimos)
Successor: Citroën Axel, Citroën Visa
Class: Economy family car (B)
Body style: 4-door notchback saloon (Ami 6), 4-door fastback saloon (Ami 8), 5-door estate, 2-door van
Layout: FF layout
Engine: 602 cc flat-2, 1015 cc flat-4
Related: Citroën 2CV, Citroën FAF, Citroën Dyane, Citroën M35, Citroën Méhari
Width: 60 in
Length: Ami 6 – 3920 mm, Ami 6 Break – 3960 mm, Ami 8 Break – 3990 mm
Height: 57 in
Wheelbase: 2400 mm
Designer: Flaminio Bertoni

Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Sources

Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1093535CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_AmiCC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1359273971 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citroen_Ami_-_Flickr_-_exfordy.jpgCC BY 2.0 · Photo: Brian Snelson from Hockley, Essex, England · retrieved 2026-10-01
Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.