Oil, environment, lifestyle fuel Asia's 2-wheeler boom Agence France-Presse . Singapore Record high oil prices, environmental concerns, affluent lifestyles as well as the need to dodge city traffic are driving a boom in Asia's motorcycle and bicycle market, industry figures say. The rediscovery of cycling as a way to keep fit is also helping to boost demand for two-wheelers, those at a bicycle and motorcycle exhibition which runs in Singapore until Sunday said.

The Indian automobile industry is on its way towards a cleaner and more energy-efficient future, so what if it is being driven by the government to do so. With the stringent Bharat Stage IV emission norms expected to kick in by the first half of 2010, the ministry of power has now decided to accord energy (read fuel) efficiency ratings to all automobiles manufactured in India.

The caretaker government plans to ban two-stroke vehicles in all the district headquarters and metropolitan cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to hazardous global warming. "Government is thinking about making cities and district towns clean by getting rid of two-stroke engine as it causes massive air pollution,' Raja Devasish Roy, special assistant to chief adviser on Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and Forest Affairs, told UNB. He said the government will take steps to create awareness among the people against the use of two-stroke engines.

bowing to an aggressive us offensive, the Indian government recently allowed the import of the us's iconic Harley Davidson bikes. The decision, which came on April 13, 2007, is part of a deal

Bikes go cleaner with fuel injection