The Land Rover Defender has been sold in the United States during the years 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1997. This vehicle has been respected throughout the world for its capabilities on the off road. Along that line, the ultra-rugged Land Rover Defender has earned its merit and worth in endurance motor sports events that include the famous Paris-Dakar rally. This vehicle had first the U.S. market scene in the fall of 1992 and was then introduced the next year. It featured soft- and hardtop versions. It then became an icon that had defined the Land Rover in the years to come.
Land Rover, the brand, is the leader as a four-wheel drive specialist, and the Land Rover Defender is the ultimate off roader. It has simplicity, yet has unequalled strength and renowned ability that makes it sure-footed and quite unstoppable. Be the road your treading be high altitude mountain trails, hot desert sands crossings, or deep wading through rivers, the Land Rover Defender has been able to handle these, thus getting its moniker as the world’s toughest 4X4. It is able to handle these along with towing, winching, carrying, and protecting.
This vehicle has a very powerful Td5 2.5 liter diesel engine that has been specifically tuned for off road expeditions and challenges. Also, the Land Rover Defender’s engine is controlled by the throttle mapping system that has the capability to allow different levels of accelerator travel that is quite dependent in the range of gearing selected. A robust dual range transfer box provides control of its engine torque. It gives drivers of the Defender a high and low ratio, along with ten forward and two reverse gears. With this, the choice of gearing thus allows this vehicle to have the power to go uphill or, otherwise, to have the safety during crawling at extreme angles over loose earth.
A new model in replace of the Land Rover Defender has been in the planning stages for years. The design that it was last seen with is actually over twenty years of age, and in comparison to the Land Rovers of the 1950s, could be quite noticed that updates are only in the slightest of forms. With most of the vehicles nowadays, private or commercial, are modernized and thus offer a significant increase in levels of performance, comfort, and requirement, the Defender is again in competition with Japanese products. These products from Japan offer lesser off road abilities but provide promises of better comfort levels. Supposed to be due in the year 2007 is the Defender’s replacement, however, due to costs of building new Defenders using new methods has made this vehicle profitable once again so much so that its replacement has become a lesser priority.
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Carol Mitchel is an executive assistant in one of the leading automotive magazine in Los Angeles, California. She is a certified car lover and a fan of extreme sports.
Ever since it created the first vehicle powered by an engine running on alcohol in Brazil in 1979, the upward trajectory of the Fiat Car Company been has marked by it’s trend-setting attitude to design and development.
Now, once again, the group innovates with the use of the fuel, by launching the new Fiat Siena 1.4 Tetrafuel, the first vehicle in the world that can use four types different of fuel: ethanol 100%; Brazilian gasoline (that contains a 20% of alcohol); pure gasoline, like that used one in different Latin American and European countries; and natural gas.
In addition to being able to use different fuels, the key to the great technological innovation of this new Fiat model is the automization of the process, through an exclusive electronic system, by which the usage of these fuels is alternated, based on conditions, and without any input from the driver. This means that the onboard computer decides what fuel is to be combusted at any given moment, allowing the driver to concentrate on his driving, without needing to think about the fuel type the car uses or about any different controls that he might otherwise have to operate, related to the particular fuel type being used. In other words, the driver does nothing, the computer does it all for him!
Developed by Magneti Marelli (nowadays considered the leader in the market of injection systems with a market share of 45%), the electronic management system selects the optimal fuel combustion settings based on each situation, giving priority to the driver. Indeed, when the onboard sensor makes a fuel change, it does it in such a way that the driver will hardly notice, if at all, guaranteeing constant driving conditions and fuel yield in any road conditions. This way, the condition and longevity of the car is protected, even when natural gas is used, and in addition the fuel savings are constantly promoted.
Naturally, with the objective of cutting running costs, the first fuel the system will use will be a natural gas type fuel, whenever available. But, when the sensor detects a situation in which greater acceleration is needed, the interchange to liquid fuel is made automatically. The motor will use the natural gas again whenever the system detects that it is the most advisable fuel for that moment.
The Tetrafuel system is based on technology called “SFS” or “Software Sensorial Flexfuel” that began its development in 1999 using 100% Brazilian engineering. “We have invested 25 million dollars to make possible SFS and TetraFuel in the Brazilian market “, declared Silvrio Bonfiglioli, engineer and representatives of the Magneti Marelli Mercosul.
With Tetrafuel, the intelligent management of fuel usage will be preinstalled at the factory, thereby eliminating a series of necessary technical changes and special equipment for its installation, including replacing the operation button for the system that nowadays exists in Fiat models that are not equipped with the Tetrafuel “multi-fuel” system, to be replaced by the technology of Magneti Marelli.
The TetraFuel system is without a doubt one of the best but simplest tools to reduce the high levels of air pollution and contamination in urban centers. This pollution problem affects most of the countries in the world, because of the ever increasing number of vehicles on the road. “The system will be a success in South America and will give rise to an important evolution for European markets, since it will allow the diminution of the carbon dioxide emission (CO2), as well as the dependency on petroleum” declares Bonfiglioli.
The SFS computer program is installed in a control box, almost like a simple switchboard. The SFS identifies and quantifies the mixture between the alcohol and the gasoline in the tank, thanks to the information that it receives from the sensors in the fuel injection system, with the Lambda signals created by the system then controlling the engines detonation, rotation speed and temperature sensors.
Based on this information, the program determines the amount of fuel that will have to be injected into the motor and also the moment at which the spark must be created to ignite the mixture in the most efficient manner.
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Steve Cowan is an Asia based businessman and writer, as well as an international racing driver and full time father. To discover more, visit his blog -What’s New Today,Stanley?- at http://webbiz99.com/
The IRS has set up a program where it can dictate to an employer what an employee can withhold from their paycheck for Federal Income Tax purposes without any input from the employee and without a court order.
Under the new Withholding Compliance Program, the IRS can issue a “lock-in letter” specifying what the withholding rate is for an employee regardless of the employee’s W4. The employer is then required to do the following:
- Furnish a copy of the lock-in letter to the employee upon receipt (though the first letter in our hands said ten days).
- Impose the new IRS dictated withholding rate 60 days after the date of the letter.
- Fax (the letter actually says mail or fax) a letter on Company Letterhead to the Internal Revenue Service if the employee is no longer employed.
- Continue the lock-in process on gained employees based on the transferred W-4 and lock-in letter from a predecessor.
- Ensure safeguards are in place to prevent employees from increasing their allowances electronically.
- Maintain the withholding amount specified in the lock-in letter. There could be a penalty if the employer fails to honor the lock-in requirement and the employer could be liable for the amount of tax that should have been withheld.
- Remind employees that the notice they received tells them how to contact the IRS if they want to change the withholding status and allowances from single/zero and the information they will need to supply. That information includes: Form W-4 and worksheets; most current pay stub for each job; number of allowances claimed on current Forms W-4; and the social security numbers and dates of birth for any children and proof of any deductions they want to use to claim additional withholding allowances.
There are several chilling points in the most recent IRS article released June 30, 2006. These points are above and beyond the actual regulations issued last year with little fanfare.
- The article specifically references single/zero as the status and allowances that the lock-in letter will have on it, no other option.
- Penalties could be imposed on the employer for at least the amount of tax not collected, additional penalties and interest will, of course, be extra.
- All employee self service software modules will have to be controlled to allow the employer to lock out changes by a particular employees.
Other point that are not specifically addressed by the IRS include:
- The employer is responsible for this lock-in rate forever. If any change in the employee’s circumstances change such as a marriage, a baby or a home purchase, the employer will have to check their files back to date of hire to make sure they can allow a new W-4 form from the employee to go into effect.
- The IRS does not define what circumstances, other than “serious underreporting,” that will cause a lock-in letter to be issued in the first place.
- The IRS gives no guidance to employees on exactly what will cause the IRS to modify a lock-in letter. Neither does it tell the employee what kind of time frame to expect a change from the IRS after a request and documentation are submitted.
- The “Transferred W-4 and lock-in letter from a predecessor” phrase does not appear anywhere else in a search of the IRS internet site. Therefor no employer has any idea of what it actually means. If you acquire a company or merge with another company are you responsible to know the status of every employee back to date of hire in reference to a lock-in letter?
- Finally the IRS nowhere tells the employer how, when or why it will modify a lock-in letter. Nor does it discuss what the responsibilities the employer has when and if the IRS does modify it. The IRS really leaves the employer in the dark on changes.
Employers need to be aware of the above changes in the law and make the necessary adjustments to their systems to prevent oversights from happening. The initial letter to the employer is fairly straight forward but the unlimited time frame and enormous potential penalties make it imperative that every employer upgrade or install a system to track this information perfectly.
Charles J. Read, CPA has been in the payroll, accounting and tax business for 30 years, the last fifteen in private practice. Mr. Read is the author of “How to Start a New Business”.
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