HANOI — Red roses, field flowers, baskets of vegetables, slaughtered hogs. In Vietnam, farmers bring anything that can be loaded onto a motorcycle to market in the morning. In early evenings, bikers jam the streets as they return home.
The demand for motorcycles in Vietnam is extremely high due to a dearth of public transport and low income levels that put automobiles out of reach for many.
With 3 million motorbikes, Vietnam is the world's fourth-largest market, behind China, India and Indonesia. Because the country is one of the few emerging economies yet to embrace the automobile, Japanese motorcycle manufacturers are major players.