.cars

Overview

.cars is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) introduced through ICANN's New gTLD Program. The string represents the plural of "car" and is categorized as an industry gTLD targeting the automotive sector. The registry is operated by Uniregistry.

History

• Delegated to the DNS root zone on 02 May 2015.
• Uniregistry became the registry operator after winning a private auction in October 2014 and is listed as the managing registry.
• Uniregistry (established by Frank Schilling) filed applications for numerous new gTLDs (54 in total).
• Other applicants included Donuts (Koko Castle, LLC) and DERCars, LLC.
• Donuts submitted a Public Interest Commitment (PIC) as part of its application.
• DERCars, LLC received a GAC Early Warning from Australia (GAC Chair Heather Dryden) expressing concern about an applicant seeking exclusive access to a broad, generic string.

Usage and Audience

• Target audience: organizations and communities related to the automotive industry.
• Typical holders: industry operators, marketplaces, services, and other entities that identify with the cars sector (as indicated by the gTLD's industry categorization).

SEO and Brand Impact

• The string prompted String Confusion Objections from Google, which argued .cars was confusingly similar to .car. Rulings on those objections were mixed across applicants.
• Inconsistent objection determinations (different outcomes for different applicants) generated controversy within the community over singular/plural confusability and related rights.

Notable Cases or Examples

• String Confusion Objections: Google filed objections against all three applicants for .cars (noting similarity to .car). Decisions included:
  • 7 August 2013: an ICDR ruling resolved one objection in favor of Donuts.
  • 27 August 2013: Google's objection against DERCars was decided in Google's favor.
  • 10 October 2013: the objection against Uniregistry failed.
• Following mixed objection outcomes, ICANN announced on 12 February 2014 that certain affected applicants had the right to appeal 'inconsistent' rulings.
• Private auction (October 2014): Uniregistry won the contention set, with other applicants withdrawing and sharing the auction proceeds.
• Donuts had submitted a Public Interest Commitment (PIC) as part of its application process.
• DERCars' application triggered a GAC Early Warning citing potential negative competition impacts from exclusive access to the generic string.

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       CARS

organisation: XYZ.COM LLC
address:      4425 Spring Mountain Rd., Suite 2
address:      Las Vegas NV 89102
address:      United States of America (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         General Counsel
organisation: XYZ.COM LLC
address:      4425 Spring Mountain Rd., Suite 2
address:      Las Vegas NV 89102
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1 702 757 6555
e-mail:       hello@xyz.com

contact:      technical
name:         CTO
organisation: CentralNic
address:      Saddlers House, 4th Floor
address:      44 Gutter Lane
address:      London EC2V 6BR
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)
phone:        +44 20 33 88 0600
fax-no:       +44 20 33 88 0601
e-mail:       tld.ops@centralnic.com

nserver:      A.NIC.CARS 194.169.218.129 2001:67c:13cc:0:0:0:1:129
nserver:      B.NIC.CARS 185.24.64.129 2a04:2b00:13cc:0:0:0:1:129
nserver:      C.NIC.CARS 212.18.248.129 2a04:2b00:13ee:0:0:0:0:129
nserver:      D.NIC.CARS 212.18.249.129 2a04:2b00:13ff:0:0:0:0:129
ds-rdata:     44409 13 2 eb9a6c7f48dcf471a448ae5b507bf2dfe211f89da55792f1a23e2218e37699e4

whois:        whois.nic.cars

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://nic.cars

created:      2015-03-12
changed:      2025-08-12
source:       IANA