Most of the vehicles driven by Swiss motorists produce greenhouse gas emissions at proposed by the country’s energy minister.

In the future, the importation of some cars may be banned.

he choice of vehicles imported into Switzerland could change drastically if federal environment minister Moritz Lueunberger has his way.

Most of the cars driven by Swiss motorists are bigger and produce higher emissions than standards proposed by Luenberger as part of an energy efficiency plan meant to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emission.

The minister is set to impose restriction on what kind of vehicles can be imported into Switzerland, which does not have its car manufacturers.

In a move aimed at making cars affordable, Kenya is expected to amend a budget proposal to impose a 20 per cent excise duty on imported used motor vehicle spare parts.

To discourage the importation of second hand motor cars in Kenya and to energize the local car and spare parts assembly firms, Finance minister Amos Kimunya imposed a 20 per cent excise duty on all imported second hand spare in the June budget.

The Government of Kenya aiming to collect huge amount of tax from the Imported spare parts as more Kenyans use second hand motor vehicles.

According to the Kenya Auto Bazaar Association (KABA)-the umbrella organization of second hand car dealers- a total of 42,000 imported second hand cars were registered in Kenya in 2006 compared to 10,000 new units.

Beneath your car’s hood are belts hooked to the engine, running the power steering air conditioning and other items that drag on the engine and cut gas mileage.

But as fuel efficiency becomes paramount with high gas prices and pending government regulations, automakers across the world are trying to get rid of as many belts as they can, switching them to electric motors.

They power steering pump is likely to be the first casualty.

Toyota, GM and Ford already have electric power steering on some models, with more in the works, and they report fuel efficiency gains of up to 8 percent.

Other manufacturers and part suppliers also are using or developing the motors, which could spread to air conditioning and power break assist devices run by belts.

Because there is no power steering fluid to monitor, no belt parts, maintenance costs are lower, manufacturers say.

Toyota already has electric power steering on multiple models from top-line Lexus to the popular new Carmy to its youth-oriented Scion small cars.

Eliminating the power steering pump and fluid also helps gas mileage by shedding weight.

There were 4,544 imported cars newly registered in August, up 34.6 percent from the same month last year, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association said in Seoul.

That brings the total number of imported cars registered this year to 34,399 up by 29.5 percent from the same period a year ago.

If this rate continues, the number is expected to exceed 50,000 by the end of the year.

Mechanic and inventor Kinya Kano is proud of his “walking” bicycle, which he hopes will make life easier for elderly people, expectant mothers and people with disabilities.

Kano has developed a new type of bicycle with four wheels-two set just centimeters at the rear-that can move in all directions.

“This is a ‘walking bicycle’ with the operability of a wheelchair,” explained 54-years-old Kano, co-founder of the innovative Land Walker Ltd. Bicycle company in Osaka.