Automotive Marketing

Ratan Tata unveiled the Nano at the Delhi Auto Expo on January 10, 2008. The Tata Nano is the $2,500 car that has been designed and built in India at the hands of more than 500 people from around the world. I was reading the english Times Online write up about the Nano and enjoyed all the comments left on the article. One of them was particularly interesting to me as it captured my opinion of this announcement almost perfectly.

“$2500 cars already exist, they are called “used cars”. Option A, new tin can with 33hp, Option B 5-8 year old real car, like a Carolla or Civic or Sentra. Which will last longer, be safer, and look better?

Maybe one positive of this car will be that it will drive used car prices down.”

~Mike S, Dallas

The idea of a car costing only $2,500 is not new. Plenty of depreciated vehicles fall into this price range, and lots of those used vehicles are not aluminum bubbles that top out at 65mph. I do disagree with Mike from Dallas that this car will drive used car prices down, and a few other ideas come to mind when I think about how the Tata Nano might impact the American market.

• it will not
• the Nano is not coming to America
• it is not allowed to come to America because of environmental and safety requirements
• the Nano is not of higher quality than $2,500 used cars in America
• driving in India is safer than driving in America†
• why do all highly efficient vehicles look like cartoon bubble cars

†Roughly 85,000 people are killed each year in India as the result of a car crash, and less than 50,000 killed similarly in America. The population of India is 3.75 times that of the US, but the number of people killed in car crashes is only about 2 times that in the US.

Network Solutions has been one of the most expensive domain name registrars for a long time. I have only recently considered buying a domain name from them because GoDaddy does not yet offer the .us.com extension. The reason I do not give this company my money is simple: Network Solutions has ridiculous prices.

I quickly described a phenomenon that exploded this week in my last post. Network Solutions has started registering (not really) domains that customers search for on their website.

The company deployed a new security policy to hold for 4 days any domain that is searched at their website to prevent domain tasters from taking domains from potential customers after searches are completed but before names are purchased. The Domain Tools blog has detailed this process and what the domain default parked page looked like.

Public Relations to the rescue…

I’d like to clarify what we are doing. In response to customer concerns about Domain Name Front Running (domains being registered by someone else just after they have conducted a domain name search), we have implemented a security measure to protect our customers. The measure will kick in when a customer searches for an available domain name at our website, but decides not to purchase the name immediately after conducting the search.

After the search ends, we will put the domain name on reserve. During this reservation period, the name is not active and we do not monetize the traffic on these domains. If a customer searches for the domain again during the next 4 days at networksolutions.com, the domain will be available to register. If the domain name is not purchased within 4 days, it will be released back to the registry and will be generally available for registration.

This protection measure provides our customers the opportunity to register domains they have previously searched without the fear that the name will be already taken through Front Running.

~Jonathon Nevett, Vice President of Policy at Network Solutions

The problem is that what they call a protection measure holds names hostage. Sure, no one will buy the name out from under you, but you are forced to pay Network Solutions premium price (almost 400% of average price) to get the name while they have it blacked out. A search for a name at a different domain registrar would show it as unavailable while the Network Solutions reservation is in place.

Network Solutions has responded to the wide criticism of this new domain front-running policy, but this is a gigantic disappointment to webmasters and the Network Solutions wiki has a well-sourced new section detailing the event.

CNet News.com reported last night that the latest public statement is that Network Solutions is “making improvements to our protection measure.” The changes mean that the names will still be reserved for 4 days, but the pages will no longer resolve to a sales pitch to “buy this now here for far too much money” like they have since the change was made this week. Now, an under construction page will be shown like you can see at http://www.networksolutionssucksmonkeyballs.com/.

Domain Jamming vs Domain Tasting

There exists an Add Grace Period (AGP) that all ICANN-accredited registrars must offer to domain purchasers. AGP is a 5 day grace period that means if you buy a domain that you decide you do not want you can get your money back. This rule is abused by some webmasters as a mechanism to evaluate a domain’s existing or natural traffic via a page full of ads. If the domain taster likes the pennies he makes within the first five days, he keeps it. If the taste was sour, the taster simply gets his money back via AGP.

What Network Solutions has done is created a mechanism that anyone can use to block domain registrations (or at least affordable ones) by searching for a domain and thus locking it into a Network Solutions only purchase option, 4 days at a time. A coworker has asked me, “Well, you can just wait four days for it to be released, right?” Sure can. Anyone can, including the person that jammed the registration in the first place.

The same coworker then said to me, “So, I could write a program that searched for a domain name every other day on Network Solutions and ruin the chances of that name being bought?” Sort of. If the name is purchased at the Network Solutions price it can still be registered, but only silly people register domains at Network Solutions, especially this week. The effect of such a campaign would be Network Solutions profits on the sale because the jammed domain can not be purchased anywhere else.

Check out the whois information on youguysseriouslyregistereverythingisearch.com. I found this via wolf-howl.com.

I openly accuse GoDaddy of sniffing searches. I have tried to buy a domain minutes after initially searching for it at GoDaddy and found it registered. The domains were not registered in GoDaddy’s name, but it has happened to me. The funny part is I research domain names on Network Solutions because of the GoDaddy issue I had and because of the multi-line text input. This is pretty convincing, though.

I am continually amazed at the brand position that CARFAX maintains. Consumers are seemingly unaware of any alternative to their vehicle history report service.

AutoCheck exists

AutoCheck LLC was born in 1998. By 2002, when almost a million AutoCheck reports were being served each month, the company entered an agreement with Experian and became an Experian Automotive product. This partnership would transform the AutoCheck reports from being primarily an auction product to a mainstream consumer product in direct competition with CARFAX.

Too little too late

The game was already over, and CARFAX won. By December of 1996, consumers could access reports through CARFAX’s website that contained title information for all fifty states. AutoCheck’s delivery of this feature was 5 years late, enough time for CARFAX to brand the product as their own. Today, AutoCheck is still reinventing their product and acquiring partnerships with sites like eBay Motors to boost their brand.

Experian doubles the amount of time that $25 can access unlimited reports; CARFAX gives 30 days and AutoCheck gives 60. I feel this is a small edge that has a small effect on consumers. When 11 out of 12 people can name CARFAX and no alternative, price points mean very little.

Update: I wrote this today when the Yahoo! Answers question had 12 responses. There’s a few more now, numbers 13 and 14 that are pro AutoCheck and surprisingly emotional. You goons. You fool no one.