Last Vespa PX has rolled down the line

It's the end of an era. Piaggio has officially built its last PX, and it's a bittersweet farewell as we have mixed emotions about the model's departure. On one hand, the PX has always been a fuel-sipper and a very high quality piece of machinery. On the other hand, the reason for its demise is that the Italian wasp's two-stroke engine just wasn't clean enough to continue to be sold in Europe or America. While it is possible to make the ring-dingers meet emissions regulations, it is not really cost effective to do so considering the efforts necessary to make it happen. As you may know, two-stroke engines burn oil by design and emit much more toxic pollutants and carbon into the atmosphere. There are still two-stroke engines being made, but they may not be for longer. In the U.S., Genuine Scooters still offers the Stella, which is very similar in design to the classic PX and still uses the stroker engine, albeit equipped with a catalytic converter. How much longer? Certainly not another thirty years.

[Source: Motorcycle.com]