The Santa Monica startup NextCar announced its rebrand to Autonomy, with the matching domain name – Autonomy.com.
NextCar offers short-term vehicle subscriptions. The business operated on the domain name Nxcr.com, while another brand – a car rental business called NextCar International in Maryland, owns the Nextcar.com domain. You can imagine the confusion that cost to the company’s customers and the loss in advertising dollars.
NextCar’s CEO, Scott Painter, is not one to compromise with his brand’s name so this rebrand is not a surprise. We had an interview with him about Fair.com last year. NextCar acquired the Autonomy brand in November 2021, along with the primary global domain name Autonomy.com. The name used to belong to a HP company later acquired by Micro Focus.
“Our belief is that Autonomy, which symbolizes freedom, is more relevant now when we’re all coming out of the pandemic and want to have a little bit of access to life as usual,” Chief Executive Scott Painter told the Business Journal. “Mobility is one of the most important ways to feel free, and so Autonomy is a great brand.”
You can add to that the fact that the autonomous vehicles market demand is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 63.1% from 2021 to 2030, making the name a category defining brand with wide opportunities for expansion in the future.
It was important to us to have a brand name that consumers could get to easily without having to come up with some clever derivative or other domain that’s close, but not really. Autonomy.com we think obviously handles that.
Scott Painter , Chief Executive Autonomy/former NextCar
How does your domain name match your vision for your brand? If you feel you can do better or just want to have a chat about how a good domain strategy can fast-track your way to success, do get in touch.
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