Tesla To Raise Self-Driving Option Price By $1,000

Tesla will increase the price of the full self-driving option on its electric vehicles worldwide by $1,000 starting July 1, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk tweeted on Monday. At the moment, the feature reportedly costs $7,000.

The full self-driving option price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval, Musk added in a subsequent tweet.

Musk also tweeted that, at that point, “the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.”

Despite its name, the full self-driving’ feature doesn’t currently support actual self-driving. Instead, the feature works with Tesla’s Autopilot suite to provide enhanced driver assistance, including automatic lane changes, parallel as well as perpendicular parking assist.

Esso raises pump prices

SINGAPORE – Barely a week after pump prices were lowered, American oil giant ExxonMobil raised its pump rates by three cents a litre.

The popular 95-octane grade petrol at Esso stations is now $2.02 a litre, while 92-octane is $1.98 and 98-octane is $2.39. Its diesel is now $1.70 a litre.

All prices are before discounts.

The adjustment makes Esso fuels the costliest here, except for 98-octane, for which it is the costliest after Caltex.

Brent crude, meanwhile, went from a low of around US$19.30 a barrel in late April to US$35.30 on Monday (May 18).

Audi introduces online sales and service initiatives

Audi is the latest manufacturer to strengthen its online retail service in India. The carmaker is now accepting bookings for the A6, A8 L and Q8 on its website, along with allowing owners to configure the cars to their preferences.

The process is similar to that offered by other carmakers — it requires the customer to create an account (under Audi Shop), select a model and its options, locate the closest dealership and select payment options. Following this, the chosen dealership will contact the customer and guide them with the rest of the purchase process. The dealer will also be able to arrange for ‘touchless’ doorstep delivery of the car.

Audi has also added some interesting features to its initiative, like an in-depth configurator with a 360-degree visualizer, along with an augmented reality feature that allows customers to visualise their configured car in their home surroundings, via their smartphone camera.

This initiative also benefits existing Audi customers as they can use the online platform to schedule a date and time for their car’s service as well as set a pick-up and drop location.

Audi is in the midst of a range refresh and has a whole host of launches on the calendar. Besides facelifts for models like the A4 sedan, and Q5 and Q7 SUVs, the brand will also bring in the all-new Q3 and e-Tron electric SUV.

Madison Square Garden faces long road to recovery from coronavirus

It’s going to be awhile before the owner of the New York Knicks and Rangers recovers from the coronavirus, according to a Wall Street report.

Revenue for the newly formed Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. will fall by 35 percent in the year ending June 30, 2021, to a projected $456 million, according to a Jefferies analyst report published Monday.

The revenue drop will come as fan attendance falls in the first half of the 2020-21 season by 80 percent before rebounding somewhat to around 50 percent of its normal capacity in the second half, Jefferies said.

“The 20 percent capacity limitation is similar to plans other hospitality or leisure companies have outlined, including theme parks and casinos,” Jefferies analyst Khoa Ngo said.

Revenue for the year that just ended will actually be better than next year, as the majority of the Knicks and Rangers games had already occurred when the pandemic hit, Ngo said.

And by 2021-22, MSGS sales should bounce back to around $700 million, Ngo said.

In the meantime, MSGS will be boosted by revenue from long-term media contracts that will continue to flow regardless of attendance, Jefferies said.

MSG renamed itself MSGS after splitting its events business from its sporting side on April 17.

DCC Plc FY Adj. Operating Profit Rises; Revenue Down 3.1% – Quick Facts

DCC Plc (DCC.L) reported pretax profit of 311.5 million pounds for the year ended 31 March 2020 compared to 327.4 million pounds, prior year. Earnings per share was 249.21 pence compared to 279.73 pence. Adjusted operating profit rose 7.3 percent, or 7.6 percent on a constant currency basis, to 494.3 million pounds. Adjusted earnings per share increased to 362.02 pence from 357.63 pence.

Fiscal year revenue declined to 14.8 billion pounds from 15.2 billion pounds, previous year. Group revenue decreased by 3.1% primarily driven by the lower oil price that prevailed during the year.

The Board proposed a 2.6% increase in the final dividend to 95.79 pence per share, which, when added to the interim dividend of 49.48 pence per share, gives a total dividend for the year of 145.27 pence per share. This represents a 5.0% increase over prior year dividend. It is proposed to pay the final dividend on 23 July 2020 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 29 May 2020.

Singapore's health ministry confirms 451 new coronavirus cases

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s health ministry said on Tuesday it confirmed 451 more coronavirus cases, taking the city-state’s tally of infections to 28,794.