GM Withdraws *.Cadillac, *.Chevrolet, *.GMC, Keeps *.Buick, *.Chevy

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

You won’t be able to send to or receive from *.Cadillac, *.Chevrolet, or *.GMC, while friends of other brands, from Dodge through Toyota, will have that pleasure. General Motors withdrew three applications for what is called a “generic top level domain” or gTLD. Oddly, the applications for Buick and the supposedly illegal Chevy are still on the books.

A gTLD replaces the familiar dotcom. In case you want your own gTLD, it does not come cheap. The application fee alone is $185,000 and the annual fee runs another $25,000. On top of this come significant expenses of running the extension, which “can put the total cost for a new TLD into the millions,” as Steve Jones, COO and Co-Founder of Domainate said.

While GM is saving money, Volkswagen splurges: It registered a pricey gTLD for each of its vast collection of brands, except for Porsche and Skoda .

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Kkt Kkt on Mar 08, 2013

    ICANN needs to be slapped upside the head.

  • Advance_92 Advance_92 on Mar 08, 2013

    Fiat could probably pay for itself selling .Ferrari addresses. Overweight middle aged Americans would flock to .vette, too.

    • See 1 previous
    • Advance_92 Advance_92 on Mar 08, 2013

      @Detroit-Iron Race doesn't really come into it, and I wouldn't think anyone outside the country would care. Maybe I should have worked Harley Davidson into it, hey?

  • Beerboy12 Beerboy12 on Mar 08, 2013

    TLD's are very much a nice to have. While it won't make a big difference to the bottom line, GM does have the right attitude here.

  • Pig_Iron Pig_Iron on Mar 08, 2013

    Who's minding the store?

    • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Mar 08, 2013

      Akerson is, but he spends his most of his time watching the cashier like a hawk, making the cashier refuse to make change for a twenty.

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