Will you buy a .car .cars or .auto extension?

[Jeff Kershner]

Starting December 9, 2015, you'll be able to get your hands on the new "automotive" specific extension - .cars .car and .auto.

Dealer, manufactures and even vendors will have the opportunity to get a bit more crafty with their domain.

Honda.cars
Serviceformy.car -- just thought of that!

How about Cars.cars.

I'm not sure I see what everyone is getting so excited about. Which extensions other than .com become top of mind with the consumer? Heck, .net has been around since the beginning and who uses that?

I get it - It could/will allow one to use the new extensions if they have not been able to obtain the .com extension of their company /dealer name. I see this being more of an opportunity for some crafty branding and campaigns.

Will you be getting one a .car .cars .auto extension?

 

[JessicaRuth]

We were just talking about this @emiltsch and a few others.

I understand possibly for branding purposes but other than that I think it won't take off. Plus, I hear they'll be very expensive.

 

[kevinfrye]

Cliff Banks had a nice piece on this. Sounds like $3000 per domain for a registered trademark, then starting at $50k apiece and working downward when they open up to everyone in January.

 

[Eric Miltsch]

There may be some decent branding plays here, the key is having a plan for them.

Dealers can be clever with it while marketing platforms need to figure out how it fits the brand. OEM and regionalized solutions make the most sense.

As much as I'd love to own e.cars, I don't have a plan for it. (right now) Something like Rochester.cars or RochesterUsed.cars is an interesting idea. Individuals would be smart to consider picking up names such as MikeSells.cars - nice word play.

 

[joe.pistell]

My $0.02.

• Unique top-level domains is not an SEO advantage.
• Unique top-level domains can be clever (i.e. Ta.co), but, my gut tells me that URL's that end in anything other than dot com can confuse ppl.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Found it's way to my inbox this morning....

Dear Jeff,

Last week, Cars Registry announced the availability of three new domains - .Cars, .Car and .Auto – specifically designed for the auto industry. See full press release here.

At 8AM PT today, the registration process officially opened and from now until January 12, 2016 (the “Sunrise Period”), only brands that are registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse are able to purchase these domains.

These new domains give the industry the opportunity to reset issues surrounding the .com land grab that happened in the early days of the Internet – resulting in many dealerships and auto businesses being left with long, unmemorable URLs for their businesses.

It would be great if you would alert your audience (on your blog, in social media, etc.) to let them know the “Sunrise Period” has officially opened and now is the time to register their brand names with .Cars, .Car and .Auto domains.
To schedule a briefing with one of the Cars Registry’s team, please contact me on 818-397-4630 or [email protected] or Melanie Webber at 424-603-4340 / [email protected].

 

[craigh]

There is a really interesting article on this somewhere that talks about the % of people that actually use domains now and it's getting so much smaller. Direct traffic is typically only 10-20% of our website traffic and that does include some email links or other sources. The number of people that still type in your domain or need it is shrinking all the time.

As long as the domain shows up in Google it really doesn't matter outside of creativity/cleverness.

From what I understand, Google offers no domain benefits beyond domain historical value (which is still huge in all my testing).

 

[JessicaRuth]

Will you buy one if Apple does/did....

Article with more info

Sounds like it's for their integration with cars....

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Santa Monica, CA -- January 12,2016 – Cars Registry, a joint venture betweenXYZ andUniregistry, today announced the first opportunity for the general public to register some of the best domain names ending in .Cars, .Car, and .Auto. This Early Access Period (EAP) kicks off today at 7:00 AM PT, with short, geographic, and keyword domains such as 1.Car, Detroit.Auto, and Compact.Cars expected to be registered early.

Running from January 12-20, the EAP gives dealerships, manufacturers, and other businesses the opportunity to secure their ideal .Cars, .Car, and .Auto web addresses for a one-time premium fee before access broadens on January 20. Because this period is open to the general public, names can be secured at hundreds of authorized retailers, such asGoDaddy.Cars andNetworkSolutions.Cars, without restriction or pre-qualification.

The EAP immediately follows a very successful trademark-only period, which featured hundreds of automotive industry registrations, including Mercedes.Cars, Toyota.Cars, Honda.Auto, Mini.Cars, Smart.Car, Mitsubishi.Auto, and Bentley.Auto. Other registrations - such as Michelin.Auto, BFGoodrich.Auto, Brose.Cars, Ally.Auto, and StateFarm.Cars - also were secured by companies working with the automotive industry. Even industry newcomers registered names, including Apple.Car, GoogleSelfDriving.Cars, and X.Auto.

“The number of manufacturers, suppliers, and Fortune 100 companies that have already adopted these automotive-specific domains is a testament to the industry’s embrace of the future of automotive marketing,” said Mike Ambrose, COO of Cars Registry. “.Cars, .Car, and .Auto allow businesses to become automotive authorities while upgrading their old, clunky URLs.”

“The 8-day EAP window is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for dealerships to stake their claims to the Internet’s most valuable real estate and stand out from their competitors,” said Frank Schilling, Co-founder of Cars Registry. “Domains that were impossible to get in the past - like LA.Cars, TX.Car, and NYC.Auto - are now available to the dealership that places its order first.”


Are you going to jump on this opportunity and register a new .Cars, .Car, or .Auto domain?

 

[emilymoore]

I see it as a form of price-gouging. There is not enough benefit to justify that high of a price tag on something that will confuse people anyway. People will still try to add a .com on to whatever it is. For example, if my web address is topspeed.tech people will try to make it www.topspeed.tech.com (I ran this experiment on a cheaper domain extension than the .car or .cars just to see).